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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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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: hide · season · perch · chest · rule · bat · chair · race

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. rule — government
  3. chest — of your body
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. chair — a leader
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. perch — the fish
  10. rule — a law
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. race — humankind
  19. season — of the year
  20. season — in sport
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. chest — a box
  24. race — the arms race

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