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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. hand — in cards
  3. face — part of the head
  4. hand — help
  5. bat — the animal
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. chest — of your body
  9. row — to paddle
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. face — to confront
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. chest — a box
  20. face — to point toward
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. row — a line
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. mouse — the animal

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