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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. bat — the animal
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kid — to tease
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. present — the time now
  8. kid — child
  9. present — there
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. chest — a box
  13. rest — a break
  14. chest — of your body
  15. rest — what's left
  16. content — happy
  17. rest — what's left
  18. fall — to drop
  19. fall — to drop
  20. content — the amount
  21. present — a gift
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. branch — a division

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