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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: mug · cue · bat · mine · kid · board · chest · fork

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. Where did you ________________ them?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  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. board — a committee
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. mug — a cup
  4. kid — child
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. mug — a face
  7. mug — to rob
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. board — to get on
  10. cue — a signal
  11. cue — a hint
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. mine — for digging
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. bat — the animal
  17. chest — of your body
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. kid — to tease
  20. chest — of your body
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. cue — for pool
  23. fork — in a road
  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