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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. file — a tool
  3. stem — to come from
  4. file — a line of people
  5. club — for golf
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. mine — for digging
  8. can — a tin
  9. file — a document
  10. chest — of your body
  11. wake — a trail
  12. club — for dancing
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. can — to be able to
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. dip — to sink
  17. can — a tin
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. chest — a box
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. club — a group

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