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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: board · craft · chest · chair · mine · cabinet · cold · branch

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. craft — a skill
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. chair — a leader
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. board — a committee
  8. branch — a division
  9. mine — for digging
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cold — not warm
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. craft — boats
  22. board — to get on
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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