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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. chest — of your body
  4. tube — the underground
  5. capital — money
  6. field — farmland
  7. chest — a box
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. prune — to trim
  11. field — a subject
  12. toast — the most admired
  13. chest — of your body
  14. field — for sport
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. capital — a city
  17. swing — in golf
  18. swing — music
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. swing — to play on
  21. prune — to trim
  22. tube — a container
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. toast — bread

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