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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cap — of ice
  3. cap — a lid
  4. vault — a safe
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. squash — the sport
  11. squash — to crush
  12. bat — the animal
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. wind — moving air
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. cap — a hat
  18. wind — moving air
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. chest — a box
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. wound — an injury
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. bat — for baseball

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