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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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Word bank
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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: bowl · kid · hand · chest · foot · straw · game · ground

  1. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  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. foot — the bottom
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. ground — crushed
  6. chest — of your body
  7. kid — child
  8. kid — to tease
  9. hand — in cards
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. chest — a box
  16. ground — the earth
  17. hand — help
  18. foot — a measure
  19. game — a match
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. game — wild animals
  23. ground — a position
  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