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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. chest — of your body
  3. craft — boats
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. craft — a skill
  7. spring — a coil
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. spring — the season
  10. bulb — for light
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. sharp — clever
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. bulb — for light
  16. spring — of water
  17. cell — a phone
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. bark — to shout
  20. kick — in football
  21. cell — in biology
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. chest — a box

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