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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. field — for sport
  3. rest — what's left
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. mark — a trace
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. rest — a break
  8. net — in sport
  9. mark — a grade
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. wax — to grow
  13. chest — a box
  14. field — farmland
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a line of people
  17. net — for catching
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. net — after costs
  20. field — a subject
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. rest — what's left
  23. file — a tool
  24. chest — of your body

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