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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. net — after costs
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bass — low music
  6. cold — an illness
  7. net — for catching
  8. scale — size or range
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. scale — in music
  11. cell — in biology
  12. chair — a leader
  13. cell — a phone
  14. bass — the fish
  15. pit — a hole
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. ruler — a monarch
  21. pit — in a race
  22. net — in sport
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. ruler — for measuring

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com