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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 120 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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. capital — money
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. content — the amount
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bear — the animal
  10. game — a match
  11. season — in sport
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. perch — the fish
  17. season — of the year
  18. content — happy
  19. chair — a leader
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. capital — a city
  24. capital — a big letter

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