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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.

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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: cap · wound · swing · rash · mark · game · foot · chest

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. cap — a hat
  3. foot — a measure
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wound — an injury
  6. rash — a series
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. cap — of ice
  9. swing — in golf
  10. game — wild animals
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. mark — a grade
  15. wound — an injury
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. cap — a lid
  18. swing — music
  19. game — a match
  20. rash — hasty
  21. chest — of your body
  22. swing — to play on
  23. mark — a trace
  24. chest — a box

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