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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: chest · tear · coach · wound · hand · foot · bat · can

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. can — a tin
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bat — the animal
  6. foot — a measure
  7. wound — an injury
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. hand — help
  13. can — to be able to
  14. tear — to rip
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. can — a tin
  17. wound — an injury
  18. hand — in cards
  19. chest — a box
  20. tear — from crying
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. tear — from crying

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