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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. rest — what's left
  3. fall — to drop
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. chest — a box
  7. pop — to visit
  8. clip — for paper
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. fall — the season
  11. root — of a plant
  12. sharp — clever
  13. root — of a word
  14. bat — the animal
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. chest — of your body
  18. root — the cause
  19. fall — to drop
  20. clip — to cut
  21. rest — what's left
  22. clip — a video
  23. rest — a break
  24. pop — music

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