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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. hand — in cards
  4. rest — what's left
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. rest — what's left
  9. face — part of the head
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — not warm
  13. chest — a box
  14. rest — a break
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. chest — of your body
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. hand — help
  22. face — to point toward
  23. face — to confront
  24. date — the fruit

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