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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. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. clip — for paper
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. spell — letters
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. file — a tool
  10. clip — to cut
  11. stem — to come from
  12. chest — of your body
  13. clip — a video
  14. spell — a short time
  15. jam — a tight spot
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. file — a line of people
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. chest — a box
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. jam — in traffic
  22. spell — magic
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. file — a document

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