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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 120 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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. last — final
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. cell — in biology
  5. chest — of your body
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. shower — rain
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. chest — of your body
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. cell — a phone
  12. chest — a box
  13. rush — hurry
  14. shower — to wash
  15. last — finally
  16. pound — a weight
  17. kid — to tease
  18. branch — a division
  19. kid — child
  20. last — to go on
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. cell — in a prison

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