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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. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. chip — for betting
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kid — to tease
  5. chest — a box
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chip — to eat
  12. file — a line of people
  13. file — a tool
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. kid — child
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — for digging
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. file — a document

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