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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chest · prune · kick · mate · swing · court

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. mate — to breed
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. kick — in football
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. swing — to play on
  7. court — for sport
  8. chest — a box
  9. mate — a friend
  10. prune — to trim
  11. court — of law
  12. prune — to trim
  13. mate — a partner
  14. chest — of your body
  15. court — of a king
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. swing — in golf
  18. swing — music

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