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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. chest — of your body
  3. spring — a coil
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. spring — of water
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. squash — to crush
  10. chest — a box
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. chest — of your body
  17. squash — the sport
  18. bat — the animal
  19. file — a document
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. spring — the season
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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