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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: stem · chair · chest · straw · cold · wave

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. cold — not warm
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. chest — a box
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. stem — to come from
  13. chair — a leader
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. chest — of your body
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. stem — a stem cell

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