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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: hide · capital · chest · kick · deal · content · bat · cue

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. chest — a box
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. cue — a hint
  7. content — happy
  8. chest — of your body
  9. bat — the animal
  10. deal — to handle
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. cue — a signal
  15. capital — a city
  16. capital — money
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cue — for pool
  20. content — the amount
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. chest — of your body
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. kick — in football

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