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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: ruler · hand · mine · spell · chest · cold

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. chest — a box
  3. chest — of your body
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. cold — an illness
  6. hand — in cards
  7. spell — letters
  8. mine — for digging
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. spell — magic
  11. chest — of your body
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. spell — a short time
  17. cold — not warm
  18. ruler — a monarch

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