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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 · chair · bat · branch · capital · cue · foot · kid

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. kid — to tease
  6. hand — in cards
  7. capital — money
  8. bat — the animal
  9. hand — help
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. chair — a leader
  13. kid — child
  14. branch — a division
  15. cue — a hint
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. cue — a signal
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. foot — a measure
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. capital — a city
  23. cue — for pool
  24. bat — in an idiom

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