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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. chest — of your body
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. scale — in music
  8. bat — the animal
  9. wind — moving air
  10. land — to come down
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cell — a phone
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. chest — a box
  17. plane — a tool
  18. scale — size or range
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. land — a country
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. land — ground
  24. wind — moving air

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