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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. shower — to wash
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. chair — a leader
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. shower — rain
  10. toast — bread
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. sharp — clever
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. game — a match
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. can — a tin
  20. mine — for digging
  21. game — wild animals
  22. can — a tin
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. chair — to sit on

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