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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. squash — the sport
  3. field — farmland
  4. game — wild animals
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. squash — to crush
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — in cards
  10. pound — a weight
  11. cap — a hat
  12. game — a match
  13. roll — a list
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. field — for sport
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. cap — a lid
  20. cap — of ice
  21. field — a subject
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. roll — a cake

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