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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: game · chair · rest · cold · hide · stick · sharp · jam

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. chair — a leader
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. game — wild animals
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. rest — what's left
  12. cold — an illness
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. game — a match
  20. rest — a break
  21. sharp — clever
  22. rest — what's left
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. jam — a tight spot

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