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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: chest · fall · calf · bat · bark · fine · court · content

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. content — happy
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bark — to shout
  8. content — the amount
  9. court — of law
  10. fall — to drop
  11. fall — to drop
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. fall — the season
  16. fine — all right
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. fine — high quality
  22. bat — the animal
  23. court — of a king
  24. fine — a penalty

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