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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bank — for money
  4. object — an aim
  5. rest — a break
  6. cap — a hat
  7. prune — to trim
  8. cap — a lid
  9. chest — of your body
  10. bank — for money
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. cap — of ice
  13. prune — to trim
  14. shower — to wash
  15. scale — size or range
  16. chest — a box
  17. shower — rain
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. rest — what's left
  21. bank — of a river
  22. scale — in music
  23. object — a thing
  24. rest — what's left

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