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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 had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. land — ground
  3. chest — of your body
  4. file — a tool
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. season — in sport
  7. row — to paddle
  8. file — a document
  9. kick — in football
  10. kid — child
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. season — of the year
  13. file — a line of people
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. row — a line
  16. content — happy
  17. land — to come down
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. content — the amount
  20. land — a country
  21. chest — a box
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. kid — to tease
  24. chest — of your body

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