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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 120 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: patient · chair · kick · cold · cabinet · pitcher · cell · straw

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. cold — an illness
  3. chair — a leader
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. kick — in football
  7. cold — not warm
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. cell — in biology
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. cell — a phone
  24. patient — a sick person

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