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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: mine · chest · stem · kid · band · court · bear · jam

  1. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. jam — a tight spot
  4. kid — to tease
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. chest — of your body
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. band — a music group
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. chest — a box
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. court — for sport
  14. band — a ring
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. kid — child
  19. bear — the animal
  20. court — of a king
  21. mine — for digging
  22. court — of law
  23. chest — of your body
  24. stem — to come from

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