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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. spell — magic
  4. lean — to bend
  5. swing — music
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. lean — thin
  9. row — a line
  10. pass — a permit
  11. swing — in golf
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. land — ground
  14. spell — letters
  15. swing — to play on
  16. land — to come down
  17. spell — a short time
  18. chair — a leader
  19. bat — the animal
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. row — to paddle
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. pass — to spend time

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