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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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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: chair · cold · row · board · rush · cell · capital · squash

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. chair — a leader
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. board — a committee
  10. capital — money
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. row — to paddle
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. rush — hurry
  17. squash — to crush
  18. board — to get on
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. squash — the sport
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. capital — a city
  24. row — a line

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