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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: mine · jam · race · object · stem · cold · chair · field

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  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. mine — belonging to me
  2. field — for sport
  3. stem — to come from
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. race — humankind
  6. object — an aim
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. jam — a tight spot
  11. race — a contest
  12. field — a subject
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. cold — not warm
  16. race — the arms race
  17. object — to protest
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. chair — a leader
  21. object — a thing
  22. jam — to spread on bread
  23. field — farmland
  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