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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 · fall · deal · cold · present · root · march

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. present — the time now
  3. present — a gift
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. root — of a word
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. fall — to drop
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. root — of a plant
  13. deal — to handle
  14. fall — the season
  15. cold — an illness
  16. date — the fruit
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. march — the month
  19. march — music
  20. fall — to drop
  21. chair — a leader
  22. cold — not warm
  23. march — the month
  24. root — the cause

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