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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: chair · craft · cold · pitcher · spring · rule · stand · roll

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. chair — a leader
  3. craft — a skill
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. roll — a list
  8. cold — not warm
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. rule — a law
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. spring — of water
  16. stand — to bear
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. roll — a cake
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rule — government
  21. spring — a coil
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. spring — the season
  24. craft — a handicraft

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