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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 120 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've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. ball — a dance
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. ball — a great time
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. key — the most important part
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. race — the arms race
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. kid — child
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. bat — the animal
  16. chest — of your body
  17. race — a contest
  18. key — for a lock
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. key — in music
  22. race — humankind
  23. kid — to tease
  24. bat — for baseball

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