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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: rest · chair · dip · game · bat · cell · tube · kid

  1. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. chair — a leader
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. tube — a container
  6. rest — what's left
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. dip — to sink
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bat — the animal
  13. kid — to tease
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. tube — the underground
  18. rest — a break
  19. kid — child
  20. game — wild animals
  21. cell — a phone
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. game — a match
  24. rest — what's left

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