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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. chest — of your body
  5. shower — rain
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. row — to paddle
  8. row — a line
  9. rush — hurry
  10. root — the cause
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. race — a contest
  14. chest — a box
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. shower — to wash
  17. root — of a plant
  18. band — a ring
  19. game — a match
  20. race — humankind
  21. band — a music group
  22. root — of a word
  23. game — wild animals
  24. race — the arms race

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