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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. march — the month
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. chest — a box
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. cell — in biology
  8. dip — to sink
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cell — a phone
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. march — the month
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. march — music
  17. bark — to shout
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. content — the amount
  20. snap — to click
  21. content — happy
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. cell — in a prison

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