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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 sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. chest — of your body
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bound — certain
  6. staff — a stick
  7. spring — the season
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bound — tied together
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. staff — employees
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. bound — obliged
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cell — in biology
  18. bat — the animal
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — a coil
  21. cell — a phone
  22. staff — employees
  23. chest — a box
  24. wind — moving air

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