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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: hand · chest · squash · chair · bat · content · bulb · file

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. chest — a box
  3. file — a tool
  4. content — happy
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. hand — help
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. squash — to crush
  11. squash — the sport
  12. bulb — for light
  13. content — the amount
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bulb — for light
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. chair — a leader
  21. file — a line of people
  22. chest — of your body
  23. file — a document
  24. content — videos and posts

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