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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. cap — of ice
  4. snap — to click
  5. cap — a hat
  6. chest — of your body
  7. object — to protest
  8. court — of law
  9. chest — a box
  10. cap — a lid
  11. chest — of your body
  12. court — for sport
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. cell — a phone
  15. safe — a strongbox
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. object — an aim
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. object — a thing
  20. cell — in biology
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. file — a line of people
  23. court — of a king
  24. file — a document

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