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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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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: last · chair · chest · bore · cap · rule · wave · game

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cap — a lid
  3. chair — a leader
  4. rule — a law
  5. chest — of your body
  6. last — to go on
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. bore — to tire
  10. chest — a box
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — a match
  13. last — final
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. cap — a hat
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. game — wild animals
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. last — finally
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. cap — of ice
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. rule — government
  24. bore — to drill

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