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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: hand · chest · cabinet · game · pass · bark · spell · last

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. hand — help
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. last — finally
  5. spell — a short time
  6. last — to go on
  7. hand — in cards
  8. last — final
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. pass — a permit
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. chest — of your body
  14. spell — magic
  15. game — wild animals
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. spell — letters
  19. game — a match
  20. bark — to shout
  21. chest — a box
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. pass — to succeed

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