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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: land · cold · hide · chair · toast · chest · pit · chip

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. cold — an illness
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. chip — to eat
  7. chest — a box
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. chest — of your body
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. land — ground
  14. toast — the most admired
  15. land — a country
  16. pit — in a race
  17. land — to come down
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chip — for betting
  20. toast — bread
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pit — a hole
  23. cold — not warm
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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