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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: march · kid · mouse · chest · row · stem · bound · bat

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. march — the month
  4. kid — child
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. march — the month
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. chest — of your body
  11. stem — to come from
  12. chest — a box
  13. bat — the animal
  14. row — a line
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. kid — to tease
  18. row — to paddle
  19. chest — of your body
  20. bound — tied together
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. bound — certain
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. march — music

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