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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. staff — a stick
  5. chair — a leader
  6. court — of a king
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. last — to go on
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. net — after costs
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. last — final
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. court — for sport
  15. staff — employees
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bark — to shout
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. staff — employees
  21. court — of law
  22. net — for catching
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. net — in sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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