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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: chest · kid · race · last · lie · coach · snap · content

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. race — humankind
  3. last — final
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. last — to go on
  6. chest — of your body
  7. last — finally
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. kid — to tease
  10. chest — a box
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. snap — to click
  14. race — a contest
  15. kid — child
  16. chest — of your body
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. race — the arms race
  21. content — the amount
  22. lie — to recline
  23. content — happy
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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