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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. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. dip — to sink
  3. pass — a permit
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. pop — to visit
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. prune — to trim
  11. chest — of your body
  12. pop — music
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. tear — to rip
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — from crying
  17. roll — a cake
  18. chest — a box
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. pop — soda
  21. prune — to trim
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. roll — a list
  24. bat — the animal

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