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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. pop — music
  6. chest — a box
  7. shower — to wash
  8. hand — in cards
  9. cold — an illness
  10. shower — rain
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. cold — not warm
  13. ball — a dance
  14. pop — to visit
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. hand — help
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. vault — a safe
  20. chest — of your body
  21. pop — soda
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. ball — a great time

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