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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: bore · bat · coach · foot · land · chest · kid · branch

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  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. branch — a division
  2. kid — child
  3. bore — to tire
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. foot — a measure
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. land — a country
  10. land — ground
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. chest — a box
  16. land — to come down
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. kid — to tease
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bat — the animal
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. bore — to drill
  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