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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: straw · chair · bass · bat · cap · kick · shower · cold

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. cap — a hat
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. bass — low music
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. cap — of ice
  7. chair — a leader
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. shower — rain
  13. kick — in football
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bat — the animal
  16. shower — to wash
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. bass — the fish
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cap — a lid
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. cold — an illness

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