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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: stock · fork · staff · file · chair · straw · cold · rest

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. staff — employees
  3. file — a document
  4. file — a line of people
  5. fork — in a road
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. cold — an illness
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. stock — goods
  11. stock — shares
  12. cold — not warm
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. staff — a stick
  15. rest — what's left
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. chair — a leader
  18. file — a tool
  19. staff — employees
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. rest — a break
  23. rest — what's left
  24. cold — the Cold War

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