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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. root — the cause
  3. ball — a great time
  4. root — of a plant
  5. hand — help
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. ball — a dance
  10. root — of a word
  11. chair — a leader
  12. chest — a box
  13. ground — a position
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. ground — crushed
  16. chest — of your body
  17. hand — in cards
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. ground — the earth
  22. scale — size or range
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. scale — in 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