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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 · bay · chair · press · patient · lash

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. bay — to keep at bay
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. press — to push
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. press — a publisher
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. cold — an illness
  14. press — newspapers
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. cold — not warm
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. lash — a whip stroke

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