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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: pit · chair · race · cold · content · straw

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. race — the arms race
  4. pit — in a race
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. race — a contest
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. pit — a hole
  11. cold — not warm
  12. content — the amount
  13. chair — a leader
  14. content — happy
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. race — humankind
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. straw — to clutch at straws

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