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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: kick · net · wound · fan · kid · lean · chest · cell

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. net — after costs
  5. cell — in biology
  6. kid — to tease
  7. lean — to bend
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. net — for catching
  10. chest — a box
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. chest — of your body
  13. kid — child
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. wound — an injury
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. cell — a phone
  21. lean — thin
  22. kick — in football
  23. chest — of your body
  24. wound — an injury

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