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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 120 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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. last — to go on
  3. last — finally
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. cell — in biology
  7. land — ground
  8. land — to come down
  9. cap — a lid
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. shower — rain
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. object — to protest
  15. last — final
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. shower — to wash
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. cell — a phone
  20. object — an aim
  21. cap — of ice
  22. land — a country
  23. object — a thing
  24. cap — a hat

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