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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: chair · cue · rash · race · present · cell · straw · spring

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. present — the time now
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cue — for pool
  6. rash — hasty
  7. cue — a signal
  8. present — a gift
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. chair — a leader
  12. present — there
  13. spring — of water
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cell — in biology
  16. rash — a series
  17. cue — a hint
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. spring — the season
  21. race — a contest
  22. race — the arms race
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. spring — a coil

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