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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: chair · stem · game · kid · band · firm · lean · cell

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — a leader
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. firm — steady
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. kid — child
  8. firm — decided
  9. lean — to bend
  10. kid — to tease
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cell — a phone
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. firm — a company
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. lean — thin
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. band — a music group
  20. band — a ring
  21. cell — in biology
  22. stem — to come from
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. game — a match

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