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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: chair · straw · snap · pitcher · wind · chip · wound · last

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. last — finally
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. wind — moving air
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. chip — for betting
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. chip — to eat
  20. last — to go on
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. snap — to click
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. chair — a leader

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