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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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. wake — before a funeral
  4. race — the arms race
  5. cold — not warm
  6. date — the fruit
  7. present — the time now
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. present — a gift
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. shower — rain
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. race — humankind
  15. shower — to wash
  16. chest — a box
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. cold — an illness
  20. wake — a trail
  21. race — a contest
  22. present — there
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. fan — to cool the air

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