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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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Word bank
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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 · cue · spring · bat · file · ball

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. file — a tool
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. chest — of your body
  5. ball — a great time
  6. cue — for pool
  7. cue — a hint
  8. file — a document
  9. bat — the animal
  10. file — a line of people
  11. ball — a dance
  12. cue — a signal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. spring — of water
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. chest — a box
  17. spring — the season
  18. spring — a coil

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