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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 120 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: lie · row · content · ground · chair · bat · cue · kick

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. kick — in football
  3. ground — the earth
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. ground — crushed
  7. chair — a leader
  8. cue — for pool
  9. row — a line
  10. cue — a signal
  11. cue — a hint
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. bat — the animal
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. lie — to recline
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. row — to paddle
  18. ground — a position
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. content — the amount
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. kick — a thrill

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