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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: kid · rash · content · chest · racket · pitch · mine · dip

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. mine — for digging
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. chest — of your body
  7. pitch — completely
  8. content — happy
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. rash — hasty
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. rash — a series
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. kid — to tease
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. dip — to sink
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. kid — child
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. dip — a sauce

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