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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. chest — of your body
  3. key — for a lock
  4. tear — to rip
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. march — the month
  8. ground — crushed
  9. march — music
  10. mine — for digging
  11. cell — in biology
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. key — the most important part
  14. chest — a box
  15. chest — of your body
  16. ground — a position
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cell — a phone
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. key — in music
  21. ground — the earth
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. tear — from crying
  24. lie — to recline

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