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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 · clip · kid · fall · spell · charge · roll

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. cue — a signal
  4. fall — to drop
  5. chest — a box
  6. spell — magic
  7. clip — to cut
  8. charge — in control
  9. cue — for pool
  10. chest — of your body
  11. cue — a hint
  12. chest — of your body
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. charge — a price
  15. fall — the season
  16. spell — a short time
  17. clip — a video
  18. clip — for paper
  19. fall — to drop
  20. spell — letters
  21. roll — a list
  22. roll — a cake
  23. charge — electricity
  24. kid — child

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