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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. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. key — the most important part
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. chest — of your body
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. chest — of your body
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. rush — hurry
  15. row — a line
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. chest — a box
  18. stem — to come from
  19. key — in music
  20. hand — in cards
  21. row — to paddle
  22. hand — help
  23. clip — for paper
  24. stem — of a plant

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