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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. last — to go on
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. last — final
  9. file — a tool
  10. file — a document
  11. sharp — clever
  12. bark — to shout
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. pound — a weight
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. staff — a stick
  21. staff — employees
  22. chair — a leader
  23. last — finally
  24. chair — a professorship

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