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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: key · net · content · kid · chest · shower · calf · snap

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. content — happy
  4. shower — to wash
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. kid — to tease
  7. shower — rain
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. chest — of your body
  10. net — for catching
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. net — in sport
  13. chest — a box
  14. kid — child
  15. snap — to click
  16. key — the most important part
  17. net — after costs
  18. content — the amount
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. key — in music
  22. key — for a lock
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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