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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 tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. bank — of a river
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. bank — for money
  7. cell — a phone
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. present — the time now
  10. game — a match
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. spell — magic
  14. chest — a box
  15. spell — a short time
  16. chest — of your body
  17. spell — letters
  18. game — wild animals
  19. present — there
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. present — a gift
  22. cell — in biology
  23. bank — for money
  24. bat — the animal

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