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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: lash · arm · plane · chest · kid · bat · mine · dip

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. mine — for digging
  12. chest — of your body
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. kid — to tease
  15. chest — of your body
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. plane — a tool
  18. bat — the animal
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. dip — to sink
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. chest — a box
  24. plane — an aircraft

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