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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: cold · stick · rest · pass · chair · straw · field · fan

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. rest — what's left
  5. chair — a leader
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. field — farmland
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. rest — what's left
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. field — for sport
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. rest — a break
  19. cold — not warm
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. pass — a permit
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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