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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. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. can — a tin
  8. chair — a leader
  9. game — wild animals
  10. row — a line
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. can — to be able to
  13. game — a match
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. cold — not warm
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. spell — letters
  18. row — to paddle
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. cold — an illness
  22. spell — magic
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. spell — a short time

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