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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: cold · race · chair · content · bear · rule

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. race — humankind
  4. content — the amount
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chair — a leader
  7. bear — the animal
  8. content — happy
  9. rule — government
  10. race — the arms race
  11. rule — a law
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. cold — an illness
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. bear — the animal
  18. race — a contest

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