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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: chest · cell · mark · stick · season · wound · kid · pound

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. stick — to attach or keep to
  3. wound — an injury
  4. kid — child
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. chest — a box
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. mark — a trace
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. cell — a phone
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mark — a grade
  15. pound — a weight
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. chest — of your body
  18. season — in sport
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. cell — in biology
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. season — of the year

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