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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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468
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: hand · field · calf · trunk · file · chip · chair · chest

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. hand — help
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. hand — in cards
  7. chair — a leader
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. chest — of your body
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. chest — a box
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. field — a subject
  16. chip — for betting
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. chest — of your body
  19. field — for sport
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a line of people
  22. chip — to eat
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. file — a document

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