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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: fall · cold · cell · chair · band · field

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. cell — in biology
  3. chair — a leader
  4. field — farmland
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — not warm
  7. field — a subject
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. fall — to drop
  10. fall — the season
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. field — for sport
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. cell — a phone
  16. fall — to drop
  17. band — a ring
  18. chair — a professorship

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