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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. last — final
  3. cold — not warm
  4. last — finally
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. craft — boats
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. chair — a leader
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. shower — rain
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. craft — a skill
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. last — to go on
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. shower — to wash
  24. fan — a supporter

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