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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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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: wave · chest · bat · kid · bark · temple · hand · plane

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. bark — to shout
  3. bat — the animal
  4. hand — help
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. plane — a tool
  10. chest — of your body
  11. kid — child
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. chest — a box
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. kid — to tease
  20. hand — in cards
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. bark — of a tree

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