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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 120 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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. squash — the sport
  6. cold — not warm
  7. last — final
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. file — a tool
  10. kick — in football
  11. file — a line of people
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. last — to go on
  15. squash — to crush
  16. file — a document
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. bulb — for light
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. bulb — for light
  21. cold — an illness
  22. last — finally
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. chair — a leader

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