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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. net — after costs
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — a box
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cell — a phone
  10. capital — a city
  11. net — for catching
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. current — electric
  14. cell — in biology
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. net — in sport
  17. current — happening now
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. capital — money
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. current — of water
  22. last — finally
  23. last — final
  24. last — to go on

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