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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 116 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. hand — in cards
  3. cue — a signal
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. cue — for pool
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. cue — a hint
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. perch — the fish
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. hand — help
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. game — wild animals
  20. chair — a leader
  21. fork — in a road
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — an illness

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