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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spell — a short time
  3. chest — a box
  4. kid — to tease
  5. spell — letters
  6. spell — magic
  7. tube — a container
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — a video
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. rash — hasty
  12. kid — child
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. chest — of your body
  17. perch — the fish
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. rash — a series
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. tube — the underground
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. clip — for paper

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