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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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. shower — to wash
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. bat — the animal
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. clip — a video
  10. wake — a trail
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. drill — the tool
  13. shower — rain
  14. drill — a practice
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. rush — hurry
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. chest — a box
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. drill — army training
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. clip — for paper
  23. deal — to handle
  24. clip — to cut

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