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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spring — of water
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. chair — a leader
  5. game — wild animals
  6. spring — the season
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. kick — in football
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. game — a match
  13. fine — high quality
  14. prune — to trim
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. bat — the animal
  21. prune — to trim
  22. spring — a coil
  23. chest — a box
  24. fine — all right

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