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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. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. field — for sport
  5. perch — the fish
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — money
  10. game — a match
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. capital — a city
  14. march — music
  15. game — wild animals
  16. vault — a safe
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. field — a subject
  20. march — the month
  21. field — farmland
  22. chest — a box
  23. march — the month
  24. chest — of your body

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