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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: lie · file · board · field · chair · straw · press · cell

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. press — a publisher
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. field — for sport
  7. cell — a phone
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. field — a subject
  10. board — to get on
  11. press — to push
  12. file — a line of people
  13. file — a tool
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. press — newspapers
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. board — a committee
  21. chair — a leader
  22. lie — to recline
  23. cell — in biology
  24. file — a document

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