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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: craft · lean · chest · bark · bound · cold · scale · mine

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. lean — to bend
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. chest — of your body
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. craft — boats
  9. craft — a skill
  10. mine — for digging
  11. bound — tied together
  12. lean — thin
  13. chest — a box
  14. bound — certain
  15. cold — not warm
  16. scale — in music
  17. bound — obliged
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. scale — size or range
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bark — to shout
  24. craft — a handicraft

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