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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. shower — to wash
  3. cell — a phone
  4. rash — hasty
  5. cap — a lid
  6. cap — of ice
  7. tear — from crying
  8. scale — size or range
  9. rash — a series
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. tube — the underground
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cap — a hat
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. scale — in music
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. chest — a box
  19. cell — in biology
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. tear — from crying
  22. shower — rain
  23. tube — a container
  24. tear — to rip

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