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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. net — after costs
  3. net — for catching
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. perch — the fish
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chest — a box
  11. ball — a dance
  12. ball — a great time
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. ground — a position
  15. board — to get on
  16. chest — of your body
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. net — in sport
  19. cold — an illness
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. ground — crushed
  22. ground — the earth
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. board — a committee

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