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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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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: chest · march · chair · squash · race · stem

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. march — music
  3. chest — a box
  4. race — humankind
  5. squash — the sport
  6. stem — to come from
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. chest — of your body
  11. march — the month
  12. chest — of your body
  13. race — a contest
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. race — the arms race
  16. march — the month
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. squash — to crush

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