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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: charge · kid · chest · chip · cold · drill

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. chest — of your body
  3. charge — a price
  4. cold — not warm
  5. drill — army training
  6. drill — a practice
  7. chip — for betting
  8. kid — to tease
  9. cold — an illness
  10. chest — of your body
  11. charge — in control
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. chip — to eat
  15. kid — child
  16. chest — a box
  17. charge — electricity
  18. cold — the Cold War

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