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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. chest — a box
  3. branch — a division
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. tear — to rip
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. swing — to play on
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. tear — from crying
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. cue — a hint
  13. chest — of your body
  14. tear — from crying
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bat — the animal
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. cue — for pool
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. mine — for digging
  22. swing — music
  23. swing — in golf
  24. branch — of a tree

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