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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: bore · hand · cell · land · stand · pound · kick · chest

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  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. cell — a phone
  2. land — ground
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. bore — to drill
  7. hand — help
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. kick — in football
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. land — a country
  17. hand — in cards
  18. pound — a weight
  19. bore — to tire
  20. cell — in biology
  21. land — to come down
  22. stand — to bear
  23. pound — to hit hard
  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