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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. squash — to crush
  3. cap — a hat
  4. net — for catching
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cap — a lid
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. squash — the sport
  9. wound — an injury
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. content — happy
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. cap — of ice
  16. chest — of your body
  17. vault — a safe
  18. net — in sport
  19. content — the amount
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. net — after costs
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. date — the fruit
  24. chest — a box

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