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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: kid · lash · foot · swing · object · snap · clip · chest

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. swing — to play on
  3. chest — of your body
  4. object — to protest
  5. chest — of your body
  6. snap — to click
  7. swing — in golf
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. object — a thing
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. clip — to cut
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. clip — a video
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. clip — for paper
  18. swing — music
  19. object — an aim
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. chest — a box
  22. kid — child
  23. foot — a measure
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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