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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: land · ruler · cold · bowl · swing · chair

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. ruler — a monarch
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. swing — to play on
  10. swing — music
  11. chair — a leader
  12. cold — not warm
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. swing — in golf
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. land — ground
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. land — a country

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