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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. object — to protest
  3. hand — in cards
  4. march — music
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. chest — of your body
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. date — the fruit
  10. object — a thing
  11. bat — the animal
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. object — an aim
  15. chest — of your body
  16. hand — help
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. sharp — clever
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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