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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. bat — the animal
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. file — a tool
  5. stand — to bear
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bass — low music
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. chair — a leader
  12. charge — in control
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. file — a document
  18. charge — electricity
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. file — a line of people
  21. bass — the fish
  22. cold — not warm
  23. charge — a price
  24. bass — the instrument

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