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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. mate — a partner
  3. shower — rain
  4. wind — moving air
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. chair — a leader
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. pass — a permit
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. kid — to tease
  15. game — wild animals
  16. game — a match
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. wind — moving air
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. mate — a friend
  23. mate — to breed
  24. kid — child

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