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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. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. chest — a box
  3. board — to get on
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wind — moving air
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cell — a phone
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. capital — money
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cold — not warm
  14. capital — a city
  15. sharp — clever
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. mug — a cup
  18. cold — an illness
  19. mug — a face
  20. board — a committee
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. cell — in a prison

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