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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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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: net · cue · race · march · chair · current · wake · hand

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. net — after costs
  3. net — for catching
  4. cue — a hint
  5. march — music
  6. race — the arms race
  7. current — electric
  8. cue — a signal
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. race — a contest
  13. cue — for pool
  14. march — the month
  15. current — of water
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. wake — a trail
  19. march — the month
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. hand — help
  22. race — humankind
  23. net — in sport
  24. current — happening now

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