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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. chair — a leader
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. pitch — completely
  11. bear — the animal
  12. shower — rain
  13. bear — the animal
  14. cold — not warm
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. cold — an illness
  20. current — electric
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. current — of water
  23. shower — to wash
  24. cold — the Cold War

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