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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 120 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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  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. file — a line of people
  2. chest — of your body
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. mine — for digging
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. chest — a box
  7. face — to confront
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. face — to point toward
  10. spell — letters
  11. chest — of your body
  12. spring — a coil
  13. spring — of water
  14. file — a tool
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. spring — the season
  17. spell — a short time
  18. face — part of the head
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. stem — to come from
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. file — a document
  23. spell — magic
  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