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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: rush · clip · kick · chair · ground · snap · chest · pitcher

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chest — of your body
  3. snap — to click
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. clip — for paper
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. chair — a leader
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. kick — in football
  10. ground — the earth
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. rush — hurry
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. ground — crushed
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. ground — a position

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