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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. band — a music group
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bass — low music
  5. degree — temperature
  6. chest — a box
  7. bore — to tire
  8. band — a ring
  9. degree — an amount
  10. wind — moving air
  11. chest — of your body
  12. degree — from a university
  13. wind — moving air
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. wound — an injury
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. bore — to drill
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. bass — the fish
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. squash — the sport
  24. squash — to crush

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