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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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. club — a group
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. club — for dancing
  6. band — a music group
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. cold — an illness
  9. rest — a break
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. cold — not warm
  15. rest — what's left
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. band — a ring
  22. club — for golf
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. rest — what's left

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