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

Word bank: pit · chair · drill · kid · patient · straw

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. chair — a leader
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. pit — a hole
  8. drill — a practice
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. drill — army training
  11. kid — child
  12. drill — the tool
  13. pit — in a race
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. patient — calm and waiting

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