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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 120 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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. chest — of your body
  3. file — a line of people
  4. fine — all right
  5. kick — in football
  6. wound — an injury
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. bat — the animal
  10. chest — of your body
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. chest — a box
  16. shower — to wash
  17. craft — a skill
  18. shower — rain
  19. file — a tool
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. file — a document
  22. craft — boats
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. fine — high quality

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