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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: foot · straw · row · chair · capital · rest · bat · current

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. rest — what's left
  8. current — happening now
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. capital — a city
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. current — of water
  14. capital — money
  15. foot — a measure
  16. rest — what's left
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. row — to paddle
  19. rest — a break
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. row — a line
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. current — electric
  24. bat — the animal

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