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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: wake · chest · bat · mark · kid · plane · cell · date

  1. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. kid — to tease
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. cell — in biology
  7. chest — a box
  8. bat — the animal
  9. chest — of your body
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. kid — child
  14. date — the fruit
  15. cell — a phone
  16. wake — a trail
  17. mark — a grade
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. chest — of your body
  24. plane — a tool

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