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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. fork — in a road
  4. chest — of your body
  5. drill — army training
  6. prune — to trim
  7. clip — a video
  8. chest — a box
  9. cell — in biology
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. drill — a practice
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. clip — to cut
  14. drill — the tool
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. cell — a phone
  18. wax — to grow
  19. march — the month
  20. clip — for paper
  21. march — the month
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. march — music
  24. prune — to trim

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