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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 · kid · face · row · bear · capital · chair · bore

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chest — of your body
  3. kid — to tease
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. kid — child
  7. face — to confront
  8. capital — a city
  9. capital — money
  10. row — a line
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. bore — to tire
  13. face — to point toward
  14. face — part of the head
  15. bore — to drill
  16. row — to paddle
  17. chest — a box
  18. bear — the animal
  19. chest — of your body
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. bear — the animal
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. bore — gave birth

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