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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: bore · chair · foot · shower · kid · arm · dip · deal

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chair — a leader
  3. bore — to tire
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. bore — to drill
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. foot — a measure
  13. shower — rain
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. kid — child
  16. dip — to sink
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. shower — to wash
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. deal — to handle
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. bore — gave birth

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