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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 116 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: game · stem · cell · mate · kid · chair

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. mate — a partner
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. mate — to breed
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cell — a phone
  9. kid — child
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. game — a match
  12. stem — to come from
  13. chair — a leader
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. mate — a friend
  16. game — wild animals
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — in biology

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