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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. rash — a series
  3. craft — boats
  4. last — final
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. mine — for digging
  7. last — finally
  8. content — the amount
  9. chest — a box
  10. last — to go on
  11. rash — hasty
  12. lean — to bend
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. chest — of your body
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. content — happy
  18. craft — a skill
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — the animal
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. lean — thin
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. lean — to rest against

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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