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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: row · bat · date · lash · race · chest · rule · chair

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. chest — of your body
  4. rule — a law
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. race — the arms race
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. row — a line
  9. rule — government
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. chest — a box
  12. date — the fruit
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. chair — a leader
  16. race — a contest
  17. chest — of your body
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. row — to paddle
  24. bat — the animal

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