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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: bat · chair · last · stem · lean · toast · stick · mine

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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. mine — belonging to me
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. bat — the animal
  7. last — final
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. last — to go on
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. lean — to bend
  14. mine — for digging
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. lean — thin
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. last — finally
  22. toast — bread
  23. stem — to come from
  24. bat — for baseball

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