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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. That must've been a ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. chest — of your body
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. face — to point toward
  6. root — of a plant
  7. cold — not warm
  8. root — of a word
  9. capital — money
  10. face — to confront
  11. root — the cause
  12. face — part of the head
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. band — a ring
  15. cold — an illness
  16. band — a music group
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. rush — hurry
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. chest — a box
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. capital — a city
  24. band — a rubber band

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