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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 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. The water is too ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. chest — of your body
  5. stem — to come from
  6. drill — a practice
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. mark — a grade
  11. mark — a trace
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chest — a box
  14. drill — the tool
  15. chair — a leader
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. cold — an illness
  18. drill — army training

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