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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: chest · chair · rest · chip · wind · cold · rule · cap

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. wind — moving air
  4. chest — of your body
  5. rest — a break
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. rest — what's left
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cap — of ice
  10. cold — an illness
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. cap — a hat
  13. chest — a box
  14. chip — for betting
  15. rest — what's left
  16. chip — to eat
  17. cap — a lid
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wind — moving air
  20. rule — government
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. cold — not warm
  23. rule — a law
  24. wind — to turn a key

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