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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. chest — of your body
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. hand — help
  6. race — humankind
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. mine — for digging
  11. game — a match
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. hand — in cards
  14. fork — in a road
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. game — wild animals
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. chest — a box
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. race — a contest
  24. race — the arms race

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