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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: band · cell · file · chair · march · bat · bore · land

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. land — ground
  3. cell — in biology
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. land — to come down
  7. land — a country
  8. file — a document
  9. bore — to drill
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. cell — a phone
  14. band — a music group
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. chair — a leader
  17. march — music
  18. march — the month
  19. march — the month
  20. band — a ring
  21. bore — to tire
  22. file — a tool
  23. file — a line of people
  24. bat — the animal

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