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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: key · straw · cold · chair · bear · cell

  1. This piece is in a major ________________.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — in music
  2. key — the most important part
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. key — for a lock
  5. cold — not warm
  6. chair — a leader
  7. cell — in biology
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. bear — the animal
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. cell — a phone
  17. bear — the animal
  18. chair — to sit on

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