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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. fall — to drop
  4. object — a thing
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. chest — of your body
  8. kid — to tease
  9. fall — to drop
  10. file — a line of people
  11. chest — a box
  12. object — to protest
  13. race — the arms race
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a tool
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. race — a contest
  18. fall — the season
  19. object — an aim
  20. perch — the fish
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. race — humankind
  24. kid — child

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