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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. chair — a leader
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cell — in biology
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. face — to confront
  10. kid — child
  11. face — part of the head
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. cold — an illness
  14. kid — to tease
  15. roll — a list
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. face — to point toward
  18. season — in sport
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. season — of the year
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. stem — to come from

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