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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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Word bank
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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: root · chair · mate · pitcher · drill · ball · kid · cold

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. root — of a word
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. chair — a leader
  6. drill — a practice
  7. mate — a partner
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. kid — to tease
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. cold — an illness
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. ball — a great time
  14. mate — to breed
  15. drill — the tool
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. root — the cause
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. root — of a plant
  20. kid — child
  21. mate — a friend
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. drill — army training
  24. ball — a dance

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