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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spell — a short time
  3. squash — to crush
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. band — a ring
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. chest — of your body
  9. shower — to wash
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. squash — the sport
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. spell — magic
  14. band — a music group
  15. sharp — clever
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. chest — a box
  19. shower — rain
  20. date — the fruit
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. spell — letters
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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