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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 · arm · chip · straw · chair · cold · sharp · present

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — a country
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. cold — an illness
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. sharp — clever
  12. chip — for betting
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. chip — to eat
  15. present — the time now
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. present — a gift
  19. land — to come down
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. chair — a leader
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. cold — not warm
  24. present — there

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