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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 116 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: cold · chair · cell · pop · bowl · saw · chip · object

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. object — an aim
  5. chair — a leader
  6. saw — the tool
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. cell — a phone
  12. saw — the tool
  13. pop — to visit
  14. object — a thing
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. chip — to eat
  17. pop — music
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. pop — soda
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cell — in biology
  24. chip — for betting

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