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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: stand · chest · file · kid · straw · court · mark · mine

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. mark — a trace
  3. chest — a box
  4. mark — a grade
  5. mine — for digging
  6. kid — child
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. chest — of your body
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. file — a line of people
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. file — a document
  13. chest — of your body
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. file — a tool
  18. court — of law
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. kid — to tease
  22. court — of a king
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. stand — to bear

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