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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. chest — of your body
  4. fork — in a road
  5. track — to keep track
  6. wound — an injury
  7. track — a path
  8. track — a song
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. rash — a series
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — a box
  18. kid — child
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. bat — the animal
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. wound — an injury
  23. kid — to tease
  24. bat — for baseball

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