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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. chair — a leader
  3. rock — music
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. bass — low music
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. rash — hasty
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. lean — thin
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. bass — the fish
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. rash — a series
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. cold — not warm
  21. rock — a stone
  22. wound — an injury
  23. lean — to bend
  24. wound — an injury

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