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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: rest · cell · last · scale · chair · clip · season · rock

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. clip — a video
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. season — of the year
  6. last — to go on
  7. scale — size or range
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. rock — a stone
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cell — a phone
  12. scale — in music
  13. rest — what's left
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. rest — what's left
  17. last — final
  18. clip — to cut
  19. last — finally
  20. chair — a leader
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. season — in sport
  23. rest — a break
  24. cell — in biology

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