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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. rush — hurry
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. chest — of your body
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. chair — a leader
  8. court — of law
  9. chest — of your body
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. court — for sport
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. chest — a box
  14. sharp — clever
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. pit — a hole
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. court — of a king
  21. pit — in a race
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. wake — a trail
  24. perch — the fish

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