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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. game — wild animals
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kid — child
  5. pit — in a race
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. march — the month
  8. face — to confront
  9. scale — in music
  10. chest — a box
  11. game — a match
  12. march — music
  13. chest — of your body
  14. kid — to tease
  15. face — to point toward
  16. face — part of the head
  17. scale — size or range
  18. pit — a hole
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. branch — a division
  24. march — the month

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