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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wind — moving air
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. bear — the animal
  8. sharp — clever
  9. shower — rain
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. branch — a division
  13. shower — to wash
  14. ground — the earth
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. chest — a box
  17. band — a ring
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. ground — a position
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. ground — crushed
  22. wind — moving air
  23. band — a music group
  24. bear — the animal

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