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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. object — to protest
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. fall — the season
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. game — a match
  9. tube — the underground
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. game — wild animals
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. object — an aim
  15. chest — of your body
  16. kick — in football
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. tube — a container
  19. object — a thing
  20. chest — a box
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. fall — to drop
  23. chair — a leader
  24. fall — to drop

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