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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  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. straw — dry grass
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. cold — not warm
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. chair — a leader
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wound — an injury
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. rest — a break
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. rest — what's left
  16. wound — an injury
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. rest — what's left
  22. mine — for digging
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  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