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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. cap — of ice
  3. chest — of your body
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. mine — for digging
  7. drill — the tool
  8. swing — in golf
  9. track — to keep track
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. scale — size or range
  12. cap — a hat
  13. chest — a box
  14. shower — to wash
  15. scale — in music
  16. cap — a lid
  17. drill — army training
  18. track — a path
  19. track — a song
  20. chest — of your body
  21. swing — to play on
  22. shower — rain
  23. drill — a practice
  24. swing — music

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