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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. swing — to play on
  4. present — a gift
  5. present — the time now
  6. shower — rain
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. staff — employees
  10. stand — to bear
  11. present — there
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. swing — in golf
  14. cold — not warm
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. shower — to wash
  17. cold — an illness
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. staff — a stick
  21. rock — music
  22. swing — music
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. rock — a stone

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