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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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Word bank
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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: kick · game · jam · saw · spell · mate · cold · chair

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. mate — a partner
  3. saw — the tool
  4. spell — a short time
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. jam — to spread on bread
  8. cold — an illness
  9. kick — in football
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. mate — a friend
  12. saw — the tool
  13. spell — letters
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. game — wild animals
  18. spell — magic
  19. cold — not warm
  20. chair — a leader
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. mate — to breed
  24. game — a match

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