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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: land · mark · chair · saw · cold · rush · cap · wound

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. mark — a grade
  3. land — ground
  4. cap — a lid
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. mark — a trace
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rush — hurry
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. cold — an illness
  14. saw — the tool
  15. cap — a hat
  16. saw — the tool
  17. cap — of ice
  18. chair — a leader
  19. land — a country
  20. wound — an injury
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. land — to come down
  24. wound — an injury

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