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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. kid — child
  3. race — humankind
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. race — the arms race
  6. kid — to tease
  7. wind — moving air
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. spring — of water
  10. wind — moving air
  11. race — a contest
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. shower — rain
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. spring — a coil
  18. spring — the season

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