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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 120 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 · mark · cell · deal · field · chip · clip · chair

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. mark — a grade
  3. cell — a phone
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. chair — a leader
  6. chip — to eat
  7. clip — to cut
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. deal — to handle
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. mark — a trace
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. cell — in biology
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. stem — to come from
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. field — a subject
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. field — for sport
  24. chip — for betting

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