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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. capital — a city
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. row — a line
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. hide — animal skin
  7. row — to paddle
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. pit — a hole
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. pit — in a race
  12. swing — music
  13. cold — an illness
  14. capital — money
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. swing — in golf
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. swing — to play on
  22. chest — of your body
  23. cold — not warm
  24. chest — of your body

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