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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: land · chair · chest · toast · kick · cue · wake · file

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. chair — a leader
  3. toast — bread
  4. kick — in football
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. chest — of your body
  7. file — a tool
  8. toast — the most admired
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. chest — a box
  11. cue — for pool
  12. land — to come down
  13. cue — a hint
  14. wake — a trail
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. file — a document
  17. land — a country
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. chest — of your body
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. cue — a signal
  22. land — ground
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. file — a line of people

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