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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 120 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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spring — of water
  3. bear — the animal
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. net — after costs
  6. scale — size or range
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. bear — the animal
  9. spring — a coil
  10. scale — in music
  11. spring — the season
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. pitch — completely
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — in sport
  17. bound — tied together
  18. chest — a box
  19. chest — of your body
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. bound — obliged
  24. bound — certain

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