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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. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to sink
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. kid — child
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. scale — size or range
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. chair — a leader
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. scale — in music
  22. mine — for digging
  23. kid — to tease
  24. cold — not warm

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