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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. cell — in biology
  4. cell — a phone
  5. chest — of your body
  6. row — to paddle
  7. row — a line
  8. chest — a box
  9. saw — the tool
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. branch — a division
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. saw — the tool
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. shower — to wash
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. shower — rain

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