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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: foot · lie · hand · tear · kick · cue · cell · kid

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. cue — a signal
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cell — in biology
  7. foot — a measure
  8. kid — child
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. cue — a hint
  12. kid — to tease
  13. lie — to recline
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. tear — to rip
  16. kick — in football
  17. cue — for pool
  18. hand — in cards
  19. tear — from crying
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. cell — a phone
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. cell — in a prison

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