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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. chest — a box
  3. roll — a cake
  4. stem — to come from
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. scale — in music
  7. scale — size or range
  8. row — to paddle
  9. row — a line
  10. roll — a list
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. last — final
  17. last — to go on
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. last — finally
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — moving air
  24. chest — of your body

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