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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. wind — moving air
  3. march — music
  4. rash — a series
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. rash — hasty
  7. staff — employees
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. cell — a phone
  10. staff — employees
  11. wind — moving air
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. pound — a weight
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. chair — a leader
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. march — the month
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cell — in biology
  22. staff — a stick
  23. march — the month
  24. rash — on the skin

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