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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. chest — of your body
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. craft — a skill
  5. cell — a phone
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. spring — the season
  9. chest — a box
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. spring — a coil
  13. craft — boats
  14. wake — a trail
  15. bound — tied together
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. bound — obliged
  18. bound — certain
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. spring — of water
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. cell — in biology

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