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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: wind · staff · chair · chest · cold · can · board · stem

  1. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. can — a tin
  3. staff — employees
  4. stem — to come from
  5. staff — a stick
  6. chest — a box
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wind — moving air
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. can — to be able to
  15. wind — moving air
  16. board — a committee
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. board — to get on
  20. staff — employees
  21. chair — a leader
  22. can — a tin
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stem — of a plant

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