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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: mine · chest · fan · clip · kick · cap · kid · temple

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. clip — a video
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. kid — child
  5. clip — for paper
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. clip — to cut
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. kick — in football
  11. chest — a box
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. cap — a lid
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. chest — of your body
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. kid — to tease
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. cap — a hat
  23. cap — of ice
  24. mine — for digging

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