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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. chest — of your body
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. clip — for paper
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. bat — the animal
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. cold — not warm
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. clip — a video
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. lean — thin
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. lean — to bend
  20. stem — to come from
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. cold — an illness
  24. clip — to cut

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