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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. scale — size or range
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. ground — a position
  6. prune — to trim
  7. ground — the earth
  8. scale — in music
  9. snap — to click
  10. ground — crushed
  11. tear — from crying
  12. chest — of your body
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. tear — to rip
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. kick — in football
  19. tear — from crying
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. prune — to trim
  22. fork — in a road
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. chest — a box

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