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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: chair · kid · cold · pop · saw · bat · object · jam

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. object — an aim
  3. kid — child
  4. jam — in traffic
  5. chair — a leader
  6. saw — the tool
  7. bat — the animal
  8. pop — soda
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. kid — to tease
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pop — music
  15. object — a thing
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. pop — to visit
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. saw — the tool
  23. object — to protest
  24. chair — a professorship

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