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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: fine · land · chair · lean · file · cabinet · pit · hand

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — a leader
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. pit — a hole
  7. fine — all right
  8. hand — in cards
  9. pit — in a race
  10. file — a document
  11. lean — to bend
  12. file — a tool
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. land — ground
  15. hand — help
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. fine — high quality
  18. file — a line of people
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. lean — thin
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — a country
  24. fine — a penalty

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