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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: staff · bat · field · stem · race · chair

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. staff — employees
  3. field — farmland
  4. staff — a stick
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. stem — to come from
  7. chair — a leader
  8. race — a contest
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. staff — employees
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. race — the arms race
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. bat — the animal
  15. field — for sport
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. field — a subject
  18. race — humankind

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