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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spring — a coil
  3. rule — government
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. chest — a box
  8. kid — child
  9. pound — a weight
  10. band — a music group
  11. chest — of your body
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. rule — a law
  14. kid — to tease
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. plane — a tool
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. spring — the season
  19. band — a ring
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. spring — of water

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