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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: kid · chair · stick · hide · mark · cold

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — not warm
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. kid — to tease
  11. mark — a trace
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. mark — a grade
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. chair — a leader
  18. kid — child

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