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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: chest · ground · fall · kid · cell · bore · hand · lie

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. chest — a box
  3. fall — the season
  4. cell — in biology
  5. cell — a phone
  6. kid — child
  7. fall — to drop
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. chest — of your body
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bore — to tire
  13. kid — to tease
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. fall — to drop
  16. ground — crushed
  17. ground — the earth
  18. lie — to recline
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. ground — a position
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. hand — in cards
  24. bore — to drill

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