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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. chest — of your body
  3. scale — size or range
  4. chest — of your body
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. game — a match
  9. chest — a box
  10. clip — to cut
  11. pound — a weight
  12. clip — for paper
  13. scale — in music
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bulb — for light
  16. game — wild animals
  17. clip — a video
  18. dip — to sink
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. march — music
  22. bulb — for light
  23. march — the month
  24. bulb — of a plant

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