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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: chest · band · content · present · cap · craft · pit · degree

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — an amount
  4. craft — a skill
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. band — a music group
  7. present — the time now
  8. content — the amount
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. degree — temperature
  11. chest — of your body
  12. content — happy
  13. cap — of ice
  14. pit — in a race
  15. cap — a lid
  16. pit — a hole
  17. present — a gift
  18. chest — a box
  19. cap — a hat
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. present — there
  23. chest — of your body
  24. band — a ring

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