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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. land — a country
  3. can — a tin
  4. cold — not warm
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. land — ground
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. band — a ring
  10. can — to be able to
  11. squash — the sport
  12. band — a music group
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. can — a tin
  15. squash — to crush
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. row — a line
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. row — to paddle
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. land — to come down

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