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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. swing — to play on
  3. chest — a box
  4. race — a contest
  5. content — happy
  6. content — the amount
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. last — finally
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. chest — of your body
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. race — the arms race
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. rule — government
  15. swing — in golf
  16. last — to go on
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. last — final
  19. wind — moving air
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. race — humankind
  22. rule — a law
  23. wind — moving air
  24. swing — 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