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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. snap — to click
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — an amount
  7. degree — temperature
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. pitch — completely
  14. craft — a skill
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. craft — boats
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. cold — not warm
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. cold — an illness

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