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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  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. chest — of your body
  2. court — of law
  3. mate — to breed
  4. saw — the tool
  5. court — for sport
  6. mate — a friend
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. face — to confront
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wind — moving air
  11. court — of a king
  12. chest — a box
  13. mate — a partner
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. branch — a division
  16. saw — the tool
  17. tube — the underground
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. tube — a container
  20. wind — moving air
  21. face — part of the head
  22. face — to point toward
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  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