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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: hand · drill · kid · wound · chest · object · kick · ball

  1. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. ball — a dance
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. hand — help
  6. wound — an injury
  7. ball — a great time
  8. object — to protest
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. drill — the tool
  11. wound — an injury
  12. object — an aim
  13. kid — to tease
  14. chest — a box
  15. hand — in cards
  16. drill — a practice
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kick — in football
  19. chest — of your body
  20. kid — child
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. drill — army training
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. chest — of your body

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