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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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Word bank
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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: game · arm · chair · present · kid · mine · last · stem

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. last — finally
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. kid — child
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. mine — for digging
  11. stem — to come from
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. game — wild animals
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. last — final
  16. present — there
  17. present — a gift
  18. last — to go on
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. chair — a leader
  22. present — the time now
  23. kid — to tease
  24. stem — a stem cell

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