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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: kid · chest · roll · lean · season · trunk · kick · game

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. kid — to tease
  4. game — wild animals
  5. roll — a list
  6. kick — in football
  7. kid — child
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. chest — of your body
  10. lean — to bend
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. game — a match
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. season — in sport
  18. lean — thin
  19. season — of the year
  20. chest — of your body
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. chest — a box
  23. roll — a cake
  24. trunk — of a tree

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