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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  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. race — a contest
  3. race — the arms race
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — for paper
  6. face — to point toward
  7. tube — a container
  8. chest — a box
  9. clip — a video
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. rush — hurry
  12. scale — size or range
  13. file — a tool
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. face — part of the head
  17. face — to confront
  18. scale — in music
  19. race — humankind
  20. tube — the underground
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a line of people
  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