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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. kick — in football
  3. game — a match
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. swing — to play on
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. row — to paddle
  9. game — wild animals
  10. hand — help
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. content — happy
  15. row — a line
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. chest — of your body
  18. content — the amount
  19. chest — a box
  20. swing — in golf
  21. safe — a strongbox
  22. hand — in cards
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. swing — music

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