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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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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: bat · chip · chest · march · scale · charge · content · kick

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. content — happy
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chest — of your body
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. chip — for betting
  8. chest — of your body
  9. march — the month
  10. scale — size or range
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. scale — in music
  13. chip — to eat
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. charge — in control
  16. march — music
  17. content — the amount
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. chest — a box
  20. charge — electricity
  21. march — the month
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. kick — in football

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