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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. mate — to breed
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. mate — a partner
  6. mate — a friend
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. pound — a weight
  12. wind — moving air
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. chair — a leader
  17. dip — to sink
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. saw — the tool
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. pound — to hit hard

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