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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: spring · spell · cap · cold · net · chair · bowl · toast

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. spring — the season
  4. spell — magic
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cap — of ice
  7. toast — bread
  8. spring — of water
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. cold — not warm
  12. net — for catching
  13. spring — a coil
  14. toast — the most admired
  15. cap — a lid
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. spell — a short time
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. cap — a hat
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. net — after costs
  22. spell — letters
  23. chair — a leader
  24. net — in sport

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