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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. My mare is ________________ in color.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. bay — a part of the sea
  6. chest — a box
  7. spring — of water
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. capital — a city
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. game — a match
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. saw — the tool
  14. content — the amount
  15. chest — of your body
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. bay — a horse colour
  19. content — happy
  20. spring — a coil
  21. capital — money
  22. game — wild animals
  23. saw — the tool
  24. spring — the season

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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