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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: cap · chair · kid · file · jam · ground · patient · prune

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. ground — the earth
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. file — a document
  5. file — a tool
  6. ground — crushed
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. prune — to trim
  11. kid — to tease
  12. cap — a lid
  13. kid — child
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. prune — to trim
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. cap — of ice
  18. cap — a hat
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. file — a line of people
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. ground — a position

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