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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: present · chair · face · last · kid · game

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. present — there
  5. kid — to tease
  6. last — to go on
  7. chair — a leader
  8. face — part of the head
  9. present — the time now
  10. last — finally
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. kid — child
  13. game — a match
  14. face — to point toward
  15. present — a gift
  16. game — wild animals
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. face — to confront

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