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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. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. When was this ________________ built?
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. cold — not warm
  3. swing — music
  4. chest — of your body
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. swing — to play on
  8. cold — an illness
  9. drill — army training
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. drill — a practice
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. chest — a box
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. drill — the tool
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. ball — a dance
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. swing — in golf
  24. ball — a great time

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