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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: kick · cold · cap · straw · chest · cue · bark · bat

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cap — of ice
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. cue — a hint
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. chest — a box
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. cap — a hat
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. cue — for pool
  17. bat — the animal
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. cue — a signal
  20. kick — in football
  21. chest — of your body
  22. cap — a lid
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — an illness

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