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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 120 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 · mate · pound · fall · chest · capital · bat · ruler

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. mate — to breed
  3. chair — a leader
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. mate — a partner
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. fall — to drop
  9. mate — a friend
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. capital — money
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. capital — a city
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. bat — the animal
  18. pound — a weight
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. chest — a box
  21. fall — the season
  22. fall — to drop
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. chest — of your body

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