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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. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. mate — a partner
  3. chest — of your body
  4. mate — a friend
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. chest — a box
  8. band — a ring
  9. spring — of water
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. mate — to breed
  12. chest — of your body
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. firm — decided
  15. spring — a coil
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. firm — a company
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — money
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. spring — the season
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. band — a music group

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