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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: ruler · bat · branch · chair · cold · chest

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. chest — of your body
  6. branch — a division
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. chest — of your body
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. cold — not warm
  14. chair — a leader
  15. bat — the animal
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. bat — for baseball

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