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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. cue — a hint
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. land — a country
  9. cue — for pool
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. land — ground
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. land — to come down
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. chair — a leader
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cue — a signal

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