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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: cold · present · calf · chest · stem · content · kick · pitcher

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  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. content — the amount
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. stem — to come from
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. cold — an illness
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. chest — a box
  13. kick — in football
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. present — a gift
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. content — happy
  20. cold — not warm
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. present — there
  23. present — the time now
  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