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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: cold · chair · wound · saw · net · bore · rule · wake

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. chair — a leader
  3. saw — the tool
  4. saw — the tool
  5. net — for catching
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. net — after costs
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. wake — a trail
  13. bore — to drill
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. bore — to tire
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cold — not warm
  22. rule — government
  23. rule — a law
  24. wound — an injury

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