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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: chair · rule · craft · mark · chest · cell

  1. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. chair — a leader
  4. mark — a trace
  5. chest — of your body
  6. craft — boats
  7. cell — a phone
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. mark — a grade
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. chest — a box
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. cell — in biology
  17. rule — government
  18. craft — a skill

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