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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 116 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. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. game — a match
  3. cap — of ice
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. sharp — clever
  6. net — after costs
  7. rash — hasty
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. last — finally
  12. last — to go on
  13. net — in sport
  14. cap — a hat
  15. fall — to drop
  16. last — final
  17. cap — a lid
  18. rash — a series
  19. fall — to drop
  20. net — for catching
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. fall — the season
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. game — wild animals

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