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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 120 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: straw · cold · ball · suit · pitcher · race · chair · wound

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. When will it ________________ you to start?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  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. straw — dry grass
  2. race — humankind
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. cold — an illness
  7. ball — a great time
  8. ball — a dance
  9. cold — not warm
  10. chair — a leader
  11. suit — to fit
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. suit — in cards
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. race — a contest
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. suit — clothes
  20. wound — an injury
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. wound — an injury
  23. race — the arms race
  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