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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: bat · straw · cold · spring · chair · kick · wake · bore

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bore — to tire
  6. spring — of water
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bore — to drill
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — the season
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. chair — a leader
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. kick — in football
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wake — a trail
  24. chair — to sit on

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