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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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Word bank
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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: game · bat · cell · chair · bear · wound · mine · straw

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. bear — the animal
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. wound — an injury
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. bat — the animal
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. game — a match
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cell — a phone
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. wound — an injury
  19. game — wild animals
  20. cell — in biology
  21. bear — the animal
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. mine — for digging
  24. mine — belonging to me

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