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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: chair · date · wind · hand · last · tube · kid · pit

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. pit — in a race
  7. date — the fruit
  8. wind — moving air
  9. tube — a container
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. hand — help
  14. hand — in cards
  15. tube — the underground
  16. last — to go on
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — child
  21. chair — a leader
  22. pit — a hole
  23. last — finally
  24. last — final

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