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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: cold · rest · chair · cell · fine · pound · land · calf

  1. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. rest — what's left
  3. land — to come down
  4. fine — all right
  5. chair — a leader
  6. cell — a phone
  7. cold — not warm
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. land — a country
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. pound — a weight
  14. fine — high quality
  15. cold — an illness
  16. land — ground
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. cell — in biology
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. rest — a break
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. pound — to hit hard

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