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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: last · track · kid · chair · prune · bat · stand · patient

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. kid — to tease
  3. last — finally
  4. track — a path
  5. last — final
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bat — the animal
  8. last — to go on
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. prune — to trim
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. track — to keep track
  14. prune — to trim
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. kid — child
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. chair — a leader
  23. track — a song
  24. stand — to bear

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