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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 · lie · nail · stem · last · kid · tear · capital

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. chair — a leader
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. capital — a city
  5. stem — to come from
  6. lie — to recline
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. tear — from crying
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. tear — to rip
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. last — to go on
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. capital — money
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. kid — to tease
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. last — finally
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. last — final
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. tear — from crying

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