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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.

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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. rest — what's left
  4. ground — the earth
  5. rest — a break
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — to drop
  9. present — there
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. present — a gift
  12. fall — the season
  13. ground — crushed
  14. mine — for digging
  15. bat — the animal
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. chair — a leader
  18. rest — what's left
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. present — the time now

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