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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: bear · chair · straw · bass · rash · cell · game · prune

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. bear — the animal
  3. bass — low music
  4. cell — a phone
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. rash — hasty
  7. game — a match
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. prune — to trim
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. game — wild animals
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. cell — in biology
  19. bear — the animal
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. prune — to trim
  23. rash — a series
  24. bass — the fish

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