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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: field · bat · wind · temple · dip · kick · chest · content

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. content — happy
  3. chest — a box
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. dip — to sink
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. content — the amount
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. wind — moving air
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. chest — of your body
  14. field — for sport
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. kick — in football
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — the animal
  20. field — farmland
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. wind — moving air
  24. field — a subject

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