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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. wound — an injury
  3. jam — in traffic
  4. clip — to cut
  5. root — the cause
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. content — happy
  8. content — the amount
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. root — of a plant
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. clip — for paper
  16. saw — the tool
  17. chest — a box
  18. clip — a video
  19. root — of a word
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. chest — of your body
  22. mine — for digging
  23. saw — the tool
  24. wound — an injury

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