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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 116 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: bat · cell · chair · bark · safe · cold · fork · spell

  1. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. spell — magic
  3. spell — a short time
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cell — in biology
  6. chair — a leader
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bark — to shout
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cell — a phone
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. safe — a strongbox
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. spell — letters
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. fork — in a road
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bark — of a tree

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