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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. bass — low music
  3. chest — of your body
  4. stock — goods
  5. key — for a lock
  6. chest — a box
  7. bass — the fish
  8. present — the time now
  9. present — a gift
  10. file — a tool
  11. ball — a great time
  12. key — the most important part
  13. ball — a dance
  14. hand — in cards
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. stock — shares
  17. key — in music
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. file — a document
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. file — a line of people
  22. hand — help
  23. present — there
  24. stock — a soup base

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