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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. game — a match
  3. rest — what's left
  4. staff — a stick
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. clip — to cut
  7. march — music
  8. staff — employees
  9. chest — of your body
  10. land — to come down
  11. march — the month
  12. game — wild animals
  13. clip — for paper
  14. march — the month
  15. staff — employees
  16. field — for sport
  17. land — a country
  18. rest — a break
  19. chest — a box
  20. rest — what's left
  21. clip — a video
  22. field — a subject
  23. land — ground
  24. field — farmland

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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