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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. kid — child
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. drill — the tool
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. kid — to tease
  16. cold — not warm
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. snap — to click
  21. pit — a hole
  22. pit — in a race
  23. drill — a practice
  24. drill — army training

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