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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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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: chest · lean · bound · degree · cold · bank · can · pitcher

  1. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. chest — of your body
  3. can — to be able to
  4. bound — certain
  5. bound — obliged
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. bound — tied together
  8. lean — to bend
  9. cold — not warm
  10. lean — thin
  11. degree — from a university
  12. chest — a box
  13. bank — of a river
  14. cold — an illness
  15. degree — an amount
  16. chest — of your body
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. can — a tin
  19. bank — for money
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. bank — for money
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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