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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 · march · pitcher · fall · rule · hide · lean

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  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. march — the month
  2. march — music
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. chest — a box
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. lean — to bend
  8. fall — to drop
  9. fall — to drop
  10. kid — to tease
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. rule — government
  13. lean — thin
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. march — the month
  18. kid — child
  19. fall — the season
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. rule — a law
  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