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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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. wax — to grow
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. bat — the animal
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. chest — a box
  9. stock — goods
  10. shower — to wash
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. vault — a safe
  15. shower — rain
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. stock — shares
  20. dip — to sink
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. chest — of your body

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