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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. capital — a city
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. present — there
  5. chest — of your body
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. capital — money
  8. chair — a leader
  9. cell — a phone
  10. present — a gift
  11. chest — of your body
  12. field — for sport
  13. present — the time now
  14. bulb — for light
  15. bulb — for light
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. chest — a box
  18. field — a subject
  19. rock — a stone
  20. rock — music
  21. field — farmland
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. cell — in biology

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