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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. staff — employees
  3. spring — a coil
  4. wound — an injury
  5. branch — a division
  6. spring — the season
  7. kid — to tease
  8. object — to protest
  9. staff — a stick
  10. spring — of water
  11. object — a thing
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. sharp — clever
  14. staff — employees
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. kid — child
  17. chest — of your body
  18. object — an aim
  19. wound — an injury
  20. chest — a box
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. branch — of a tree

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