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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. mate — a friend
  3. kid — child
  4. wax — to grow
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. mate — a partner
  7. degree — from a university
  8. pit — in a race
  9. kid — to tease
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. degree — temperature
  16. chair — a leader
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. degree — an amount
  19. chest — a box
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. pit — a hole
  22. mate — to breed
  23. chest — of your body
  24. patient — a sick person

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