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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  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 — of your body
  2. club — for golf
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. club — for dancing
  5. chest — a box
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wound — an injury
  10. clip — for paper
  11. club — a group
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. wake — a trail
  19. squash — the sport
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. squash — to crush
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. wound — an injury
  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