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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. mark — a trace
  3. chair — a leader
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. shower — to wash
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. foot — a measure
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. mine — for digging
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. cold — an illness
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. mark — a grade
  22. shower — rain
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. mine — an explosive

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