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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: cold · bat · mark · present · tear · chair

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. present — a gift
  3. tear — from crying
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. mark — a grade
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. chair — a leader
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cold — an illness
  11. tear — to rip
  12. cold — not warm
  13. mark — a trace
  14. present — there
  15. present — the time now
  16. bat — the animal
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. bat — in an idiom

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