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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. file — a line of people
  3. row — a line
  4. season — in sport
  5. foot — a measure
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. chair — a leader
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. hand — help
  10. wake — a trail
  11. cold — an illness
  12. season — of the year
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. cold — not warm
  16. hand — in cards
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. file — a document
  19. row — to paddle
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. file — a tool
  24. chair — a professorship

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