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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: chair · saw · row · cold · stem · pop · board · stick

  1. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. stick — to attach or keep to
  3. stem — to come from
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. board — to get on
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. chair — a leader
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pop — soda
  12. pop — to visit
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. pop — music
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. row — a line
  17. saw — the tool
  18. saw — the tool
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. board — a committee
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. row — to paddle

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