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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. file — a document
  4. shower — rain
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. press — a publisher
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. chair — a leader
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. press — newspapers
  12. press — to push
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. mine — for digging
  17. shower — to wash
  18. file — a line of people
  19. rush — hurry
  20. file — a tool
  21. net — for catching
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. net — in sport
  24. net — after costs

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