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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: object · chair · mine · pitcher · bat · bound · wake · fan

  1. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. object — to protest
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. bound — obliged
  10. wake — a trail
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. chair — a leader
  13. object — an aim
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. mine — for digging
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. bat — the animal
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. bound — tied together
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. bound — certain

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