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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: stem · chair · chest · straw · cold · wave · degree · cue

  1. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. degree — an amount
  7. degree — from a university
  8. cue — for pool
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. cold — an illness
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cue — a signal
  17. chair — a leader
  18. stem — to come from
  19. chest — a box
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cue — a hint
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stem — a stem cell

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