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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. staff — employees
  3. staff — a stick
  4. file — a tool
  5. kick — in football
  6. mug — a cup
  7. mug — a face
  8. file — a line of people
  9. kid — to tease
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. bass — the fish
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. staff — employees
  14. bass — low music
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. kid — child
  18. cold — an illness
  19. mug — to rob
  20. file — a document
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. straw — a straw man

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