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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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468
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: bark · net · chest · foot · plane · clip · kid · hand

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  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. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. chest — of your body
  3. net — in sport
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bark — to shout
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. clip — to cut
  10. kid — child
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. clip — for paper
  13. net — after costs
  14. kid — to tease
  15. net — for catching
  16. hand — help
  17. clip — a video
  18. hand — in cards
  19. plane — a tool
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. foot — a measure
  23. plane — an aircraft
  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