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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. face — to confront
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. chest — a box
  7. scale — size or range
  8. kick — in football
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. band — a ring
  11. cold — an illness
  12. scale — in music
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cold — not warm
  15. band — a music group
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. shower — to wash
  20. shower — rain
  21. face — part of the head
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. chest — of your body
  24. face — to point toward

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