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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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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. bat — the animal
  3. chest — of your body
  4. land — a country
  5. pop — soda
  6. lie — to recline
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — a box
  10. pop — music
  11. perch — the fish
  12. track — a song
  13. land — ground
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. sharp — clever
  19. land — to come down
  20. track — a path
  21. pop — to visit
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. perch — for a bird

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