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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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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 ring
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. bank — for money
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wound — an injury
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. bank — of a river
  11. bank — for money
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. band — a music group
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. chest — a box
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — the animal
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. band — a rubber band

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