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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: bat · content · rule · chest · kick · racket

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. rule — government
  3. chest — of your body
  4. rule — a law
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — the animal
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. kick — in football
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. content — happy
  16. chest — a box
  17. content — the amount
  18. racket — for tennis

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