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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 would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. mate — a friend
  7. mate — a partner
  8. toast — the most admired
  9. chest — a box
  10. tear — to rip
  11. chest — of your body
  12. mate — to breed
  13. drill — a practice
  14. scale — size or range
  15. drill — the tool
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. toast — bread
  18. chest — of your body
  19. scale — in music
  20. drill — army training
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. tear — from crying
  23. bat — the animal
  24. coach — a trainer

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