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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: content · mine · calf · craft · chair · file · chest · ruler

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. content — the amount
  5. file — a line of people
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. chair — a leader
  8. craft — a skill
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. chest — a box
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. chest — of your body
  13. mine — for digging
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. chest — of your body
  17. file — a document
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. content — happy
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. file — a tool
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. ruler — for measuring

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