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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 had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. My mare is ________________ in color.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. face — part of the head
  3. chest — of your body
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. prune — to trim
  7. chest — a box
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. cold — not warm
  12. face — to confront
  13. cold — an illness
  14. field — a subject
  15. prune — to trim
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. bay — a horse colour
  19. field — for sport
  20. bay — a part of the sea
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. field — farmland
  24. face — to point toward

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