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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. capital — a city
  5. tear — from crying
  6. band — a ring
  7. craft — boats
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. kid — to tease
  10. mate — a partner
  11. chest — a box
  12. tear — to rip
  13. kid — child
  14. capital — money
  15. craft — a skill
  16. mate — to breed
  17. mate — a friend
  18. wake — a trail
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. tear — from crying
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. band — a music group

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