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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. chest — of your body
  3. scale — in music
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. chest — a box
  6. field — farmland
  7. key — in music
  8. branch — a division
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. rush — hurry
  11. spell — a short time
  12. scale — size or range
  13. field — for sport
  14. field — a subject
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. key — the most important part
  17. kid — to tease
  18. spell — magic
  19. key — for a lock
  20. chest — of your body
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. spell — letters
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kid — child

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