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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. tube — the underground
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. toast — a drink to someone
  5. drill — a practice
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. march — the month
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cell — a phone
  10. chest — of your body
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. chest — a box
  13. tube — a container
  14. lean — to bend
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. drill — army training
  17. mine — for digging
  18. toast — bread
  19. march — the month
  20. cell — in biology
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. drill — the tool
  24. march — music

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