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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 124 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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rule — government
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. rule — a law
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. present — a gift
  12. present — the time now
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. field — farmland
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. field — a subject
  18. chair — a leader
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. field — for sport
  21. squash — the sport
  22. squash — to crush
  23. date — the fruit
  24. cold — an illness

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