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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 · last · cold · rest · wake · current · pitcher · chest

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wake — a trail
  5. chair — a leader
  6. rest — a break
  7. last — finally
  8. last — final
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. current — happening now
  11. current — of water
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. last — to go on
  17. rest — what's left
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. current — electric
  22. chest — a box
  23. rest — what's left
  24. chair — to sit on

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