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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. kid — child
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wound — an injury
  8. chest — a box
  9. fork — in a road
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. can — to be able to
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cold — an illness
  15. spell — letters
  16. can — a tin
  17. wound — an injury
  18. spell — a short time
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. spell — magic
  21. can — a tin
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. kid — to tease
  24. patient — a sick person

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