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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 · kick · lash · swing · bat · bear · temple · march

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. kick — in football
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — the animal
  5. chest — of your body
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. swing — to play on
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. chest — a box
  10. march — the month
  11. bear — the animal
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. swing — in golf
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. march — the month
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. swing — music
  23. march — music
  24. temple — a place of worship

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