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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: ground · chair · spring · tear · present · rock · ruler · race

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. ground — a position
  3. chair — a leader
  4. ground — crushed
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — of water
  7. race — humankind
  8. tear — from crying
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. present — there
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. race — a contest
  14. rock — music
  15. tear — from crying
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. tear — to rip
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. present — the time now
  20. spring — a coil
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. ground — the earth
  23. rock — a stone
  24. race — the arms race

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