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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 116 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 · capital · tear · kid · pit · mine · rash · straw

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. pit — in a race
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. kid — child
  6. tear — to rip
  7. kid — to tease
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. rash — a series
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. mine — for digging
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. pit — a hole
  16. tear — from crying
  17. capital — money
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. capital — a city
  20. rash — hasty
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. chair — a leader
  23. tear — from crying
  24. straw — a straw man

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