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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. chest — a box
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mark — a grade
  6. band — a ring
  7. band — a music group
  8. chest — of your body
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. spell — magic
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bat — the animal
  13. mine — for digging
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. mark — a trace
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. spell — a short time
  18. chest — of your body

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