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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 116 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: rest · chair · land · bay · can · tear · bat · cold

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. My mare is ________________ in color.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. can — a tin
  3. can — a tin
  4. rest — a break
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. bat — the animal
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. can — to be able to
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — ground
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. chair — a leader
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bay — a horse colour
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rest — what's left
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. rest — what's left
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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