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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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. branch — a division
  3. mark — a trace
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. game — a match
  7. jam — to spread on bread
  8. chest — a box
  9. jam — in traffic
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cell — in biology
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. mark — a grade
  19. jam — a tight spot
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. chest — of your body
  22. game — wild animals
  23. snap — to click
  24. cold — not warm

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