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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. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. chair — a leader
  5. wind — moving air
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. court — for sport
  8. court — of a king
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a tool
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. last — final
  15. file — a line of people
  16. last — to go on
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. court — of law
  22. last — finally
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. wind — moving air

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