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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. swing — in golf
  3. chest — of your body
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. stem — to come from
  6. cell — in biology
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. chest — of your body
  9. rush — hurry
  10. snap — to click
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. capital — a city
  13. chest — a box
  14. cell — a phone
  15. capital — money
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. swing — music
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. swing — to play on
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. nail — on a finger

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