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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: pit · last · kid · hand · trunk · chip · bat · face

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. kid — to tease
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. face — part of the head
  6. hand — in cards
  7. chip — to eat
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. last — finally
  10. last — final
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. face — to confront
  13. face — to point toward
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. kid — child
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. last — to go on
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. pit — in a race
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. chip — for betting
  23. pit — a hole
  24. bat — the animal

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