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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. shower — to wash
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cap — of ice
  5. bat — the animal
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. net — for catching
  10. rash — hasty
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. net — in sport
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cap — a hat
  15. chair — a leader
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. shower — rain
  18. net — after costs
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. cap — a lid
  24. rash — a series

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