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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: degree · fall · mine · cold · staff · chair · straw · lash

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. degree — an amount
  9. mine — for digging
  10. degree — temperature
  11. chair — a leader
  12. degree — from a university
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. fall — the season
  17. staff — employees
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. staff — a stick
  20. cold — not warm
  21. fall — to drop
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. fall — to drop
  24. staff — employees

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