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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 · bay · chair · content · cold · mate · fine · saw

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. My mare is ________________ in color.
  13. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. content — happy
  3. mate — a friend
  4. saw — the tool
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. fine — all right
  8. mate — a partner
  9. fine — high quality
  10. mate — to breed
  11. saw — the tool
  12. bay — a horse colour
  13. bay — a part of the sea
  14. cold — not warm
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. bay — to keep at bay
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. chair — a leader
  20. game — wild animals
  21. cold — an illness
  22. game — a match
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. content — the amount

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