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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · content · staff · game · hand · racket · mine · fan

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. staff — a stick
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. staff — employees
  6. staff — employees
  7. hand — help
  8. content — happy
  9. content — the amount
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. game — wild animals
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. chest — of your body
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. chest — of your body
  16. hand — in cards
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. chest — a box
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. mine — for digging

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