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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 want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. chest — of your body
  3. band — a music group
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. kid — to tease
  6. bat — the animal
  7. foot — a measure
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. chest — a box
  11. band — a ring
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. chest — of your body
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. tube — the underground
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. stand — to bear
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. kid — child

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