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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 124 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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. court — of law
  4. tube — the underground
  5. kid — to tease
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bat — the animal
  8. tube — a container
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. field — for sport
  11. chest — of your body
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. field — farmland
  14. chest — a box
  15. kid — child
  16. field — a subject
  17. court — for sport
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. court — of a king
  23. band — a ring
  24. band — a music group

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