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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. hand — help
  3. tear — from crying
  4. drill — army training
  5. perch — the fish
  6. ground — a position
  7. ground — crushed
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. can — a tin
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. hand — in cards
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. tear — from crying
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. stand — to bear
  16. can — a tin
  17. drill — the tool
  18. chest — of your body
  19. tear — to rip
  20. drill — a practice
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. chest — a box
  23. can — to be able to
  24. ground — the earth

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