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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. file — a line of people
  6. chest — a box
  7. scale — in music
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. cell — a phone
  10. snap — to click
  11. scale — size or range
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a tool
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. chest — of your body
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. cell — in biology
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. cell — in a prison

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