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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. chest — of your body
  3. game — a match
  4. rule — a law
  5. game — wild animals
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. kick — in football
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. row — a line
  13. bat — the animal
  14. row — to paddle
  15. pound — a weight
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. rule — government
  19. chest — a box
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. chest — of your body
  24. bat — in an idiom

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