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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: land · last · degree · cold · pitcher · craft · chest · lean

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. lean — to bend
  3. land — a country
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. lean — thin
  6. last — to go on
  7. craft — boats
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. degree — from a university
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. degree — an amount
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. degree — temperature
  14. chest — of your body
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. chest — a box
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cold — an illness
  19. last — final
  20. cold — not warm
  21. land — ground
  22. land — to come down
  23. craft — a skill
  24. last — finally

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