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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bound — tied together
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chest — of your body
  7. face — to confront
  8. face — part of the head
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. drill — the tool
  13. last — to go on
  14. foot — a measure
  15. face — to point toward
  16. bound — obliged
  17. last — final
  18. bound — certain
  19. chest — a box
  20. cell — in biology
  21. drill — a practice
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. drill — army training
  24. foot — part of the 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