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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. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — in a race
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cell — a phone
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. drill — army training
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. land — ground
  8. kid — child
  9. pit — a hole
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. land — a country
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. drill — the tool
  14. chest — of your body
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. drill — a practice
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. squash — to crush
  19. cell — in biology
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. land — to come down
  24. squash — the sport

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