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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  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. wind — moving air
  2. cold — not warm
  3. staff — employees
  4. staff — employees
  5. hand — in cards
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. land — a country
  8. staff — a stick
  9. hand — help
  10. cold — an illness
  11. land — ground
  12. chair — a leader
  13. file — a line of people
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. file — a document
  16. land — to come down
  17. file — a tool
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. cue — a hint
  20. cue — a signal
  21. cue — for pool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. hand — part of the body
  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