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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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pit — in a race
  4. clip — to cut
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. toast — the most admired
  7. capital — a city
  8. tear — from crying
  9. rush — hurry
  10. toast — bread
  11. pit — a hole
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. capital — money
  14. roll — a cake
  15. clip — for paper
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. clip — a video
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — to rip
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. chest — a box
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. roll — a list

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