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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: trunk · wake · bound · chest · kid · cell · rash · shower

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. bound — obliged
  3. kid — child
  4. chest — of your body
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. cell — a phone
  7. chest — a box
  8. shower — to wash
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. rash — hasty
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. wake — a trail
  13. cell — in biology
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. kid — to tease
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. bound — certain
  18. bound — tied together
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. shower — rain
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. rash — a series
  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