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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 120 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: stick · hand · march · chair · wake · band · root · fall

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. march — the month
  4. fall — to drop
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. root — the cause
  7. root — of a word
  8. band — a ring
  9. chair — a leader
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. band — a music group
  12. march — music
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. march — the month
  15. fall — to drop
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. hand — in cards
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. hand — help
  20. wake — a trail
  21. root — of a plant
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. fall — the season

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