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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. track — a path
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. chest — of your body
  5. hand — help
  6. mine — for digging
  7. track — a song
  8. degree — an amount
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. swing — to play on
  11. hand — in cards
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. craft — a skill
  14. swing — in golf
  15. degree — from a university
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. chest — a box
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. track — to keep track
  22. craft — boats
  23. swing — music
  24. degree — temperature

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