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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. chest — of your body
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. rash — hasty
  7. capital — a city
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. spell — magic
  11. chest — a box
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. lean — to bend
  16. spell — letters
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. chest — of your body
  19. spell — a short time
  20. bat — the animal
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. capital — money
  23. rash — a series
  24. bat — for baseball

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