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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: chair · kick · wake · kid · can · cell · field · hand

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. field — for sport
  3. can — a tin
  4. kid — to tease
  5. cell — a phone
  6. can — a tin
  7. field — farmland
  8. cell — in biology
  9. kid — child
  10. wake — a trail
  11. field — a subject
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. kick — in football
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. chair — a leader
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. can — to be able to
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. hand — in cards
  24. hand — help

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