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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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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: ball · chair · wind · chest · date · roll

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. chest — of your body
  5. date — the fruit
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — a box
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. roll — a list
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. ball — a dance
  13. wind — moving air
  14. roll — a cake
  15. wind — moving air
  16. chair — a leader
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. ball — a great time

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