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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.

Make a worksheet

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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. spell — letters
  5. spell — magic
  6. spell — a short time
  7. rest — a break
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. current — electric
  12. staff — employees
  13. drill — army training
  14. rest — what's left
  15. staff — employees
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. current — happening now
  18. current — of water
  19. drill — a practice
  20. chair — a leader
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. rest — what's left
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. drill — the tool

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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