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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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468
Word bank
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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. hand — help
  3. chest — of your body
  4. swing — to play on
  5. fine — all right
  6. file — a document
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. chest — of your body
  9. file — a line of people
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. branch — a division
  12. fine — high quality
  13. vault — a safe
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. hand — in cards
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. file — a tool
  18. chest — a box
  19. swing — music
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. season — in sport
  23. swing — in golf
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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