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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: chair · pitcher · chest · content · bound · bay · straw · cold

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. My mare is ________________ in color.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. chair — a leader
  5. bound — obliged
  6. bound — tied together
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. content — the amount
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. content — happy
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bay — a horse colour
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. cold — an illness
  19. chest — of your body
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. bound — certain

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