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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. spring — the season
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. chest — of your body
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. chest — of your body
  7. scale — in music
  8. wound — an injury
  9. chest — a box
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. march — the month
  12. wound — an injury
  13. scale — size or range
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. march — music
  19. rush — hurry
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. march — the month
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — of water
  24. scale — for weighing

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