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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 · fork · scale · land · wind · court · chair · calf

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. land — to come down
  3. chair — a leader
  4. chest — of your body
  5. court — of law
  6. court — for sport
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. wind — moving air
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. chest — a box
  11. wind — moving air
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. scale — in music
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. court — of a king
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. land — ground
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. fork — in a road
  21. scale — size or range
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. chair — a professorship
  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