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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 120 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 rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. content — happy
  3. chest — of your body
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. face — to point toward
  6. row — a line
  7. sharp — clever
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. drill — the tool
  10. chest — of your body
  11. face — to confront
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. file — a document
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. drill — army training
  16. row — to paddle
  17. chest — a box
  18. face — part of the head
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. drill — a practice
  22. content — the amount
  23. file — a line of people
  24. temple — a place of worship

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