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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. band — a ring
  3. cold — an illness
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. last — to go on
  8. pit — in a race
  9. cold — not warm
  10. track — a song
  11. club — a group
  12. club — for dancing
  13. club — for golf
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. last — final
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. chest — a box
  19. last — finally
  20. pit — a hole
  21. band — a music group
  22. track — a path
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. track — to keep track

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