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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: chair · bat · present · race · band · rule · wax · rest

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. band — a ring
  3. rest — what's left
  4. chair — a leader
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. rule — a law
  8. race — humankind
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. race — a contest
  11. rest — what's left
  12. band — a music group
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. present — there
  18. rule — government
  19. rest — a break
  20. wax — to grow
  21. present — the time now
  22. bat — the animal
  23. present — a gift
  24. race — the arms race

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