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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. rest — a break
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. saw — the tool
  6. land — to come down
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. rest — what's left
  10. land — a country
  11. chair — a leader
  12. kid — to tease
  13. face — to confront
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. rest — what's left
  17. kid — child
  18. face — to point toward
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. face — part of the head
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. saw — the tool
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. nail — for a hammer

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