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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: chest · chip · rule · can · swing · bat · trunk · wind

  1. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. ________________ you help me carry this box?

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. can — a tin
  3. wind — moving air
  4. swing — in golf
  5. chip — for betting
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. chest — a box
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. rule — government
  15. rule — a law
  16. wind — moving air
  17. bat — the animal
  18. swing — to play on
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. chip — to eat
  21. chest — of your body
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. swing — music
  24. can — to be able to

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