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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: branch · cold · rest · bowl · chair · ball · fall · cell

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. cell — a phone
  4. ball — a great time
  5. cold — an illness
  6. branch — a division
  7. rest — what's left
  8. ball — a dance
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. rest — what's left
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. chair — a leader
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. fall — to drop
  17. cold — not warm
  18. rest — a break
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fall — the season
  24. cell — in biology

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