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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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. bat — for baseball
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. chest — of your body
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. face — to point toward
  8. content — happy
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. content — the amount
  12. staff — employees
  13. bat — the animal
  14. cold — not warm
  15. staff — employees
  16. charge — in control
  17. face — part of the head
  18. chest — a box
  19. charge — a price
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. pound — a weight
  22. face — to confront
  23. staff — a stick
  24. charge — electricity

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