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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. last — finally
  3. scale — size or range
  4. chair — a leader
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. chest — of your body
  7. last — to go on
  8. bark — to shout
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. last — final
  17. bat — the animal
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. scale — in music
  22. chest — a box
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. hide — to keep secret

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