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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. toast — bread
  4. wound — an injury
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. capital — a city
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. net — in sport
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. date — the fruit
  13. net — after costs
  14. wake — a trail
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. capital — money
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. toast — the most admired
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. net — for catching
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. wound — an injury

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