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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 hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. chest — of your body
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. branch — a division
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. game — wild animals
  11. chest — of your body
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. cold — not warm
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. dip — to sink
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. cold — an illness
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. chest — a box
  22. rush — hurry
  23. game — a match
  24. branch — of a bank

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