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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 120 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'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. shower — to wash
  3. cold — an illness
  4. court — of a king
  5. shower — rain
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. foot — a measure
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. court — of law
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. cold — not warm
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. firm — a company
  18. court — for sport
  19. prune — to trim
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. firm — decided
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. prune — to trim

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