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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. chest — of your body
  3. key — in music
  4. present — there
  5. mine — for digging
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. drill — a practice
  8. present — a gift
  9. clip — to cut
  10. chest — of your body
  11. clip — a video
  12. key — for a lock
  13. drill — the tool
  14. chest — a box
  15. drill — army training
  16. ball — a great time
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. rush — hurry
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. clip — for paper
  21. key — the most important part
  22. ball — a dance
  23. present — the time now
  24. ball — a round shape

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