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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: staff · cabinet · field · wind · chair · mate

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. mate — a friend
  3. field — farmland
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. staff — employees
  6. mate — to breed
  7. wind — moving air
  8. field — a subject
  9. mate — a partner
  10. staff — a stick
  11. field — for sport
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. chair — a leader
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. wind — moving air

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