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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: bat · cold · foot · board · land · fork · chair · last

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. land — to come down
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. land — a country
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. board — a committee
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. last — to go on
  10. foot — a measure
  11. last — finally
  12. land — ground
  13. last — final
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. board — to get on
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. fork — in a road

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