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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. cell — in biology
  4. shower — rain
  5. present — a gift
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. chest — a box
  8. shower — to wash
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. cell — a phone
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. fork — in a road
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. present — there
  18. sharp — clever
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. chair — a leader
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. present — the time now
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chair — a professorship

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