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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. bass — the fish
  4. chip — to eat
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. chest — of your body
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bass — low music
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. snap — to click
  15. game — a match
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. chip — for betting
  18. game — wild animals
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — a video
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. chest — a box
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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