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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. rule — a law
  6. rule — government
  7. chest — a box
  8. stock — shares
  9. file — a tool
  10. stock — goods
  11. file — a document
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. file — a line of people
  14. scale — in music
  15. shower — to wash
  16. chest — of your body
  17. clip — a video
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — to cut
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. scale — size or range
  24. shower — rain

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