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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. cold — an illness
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. cue — a signal
  6. sharp — clever
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. cue — for pool
  10. capital — a city
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. chest — a box
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cue — a hint
  16. capital — money
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. chest — of your body
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. branch — a division
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. fan — a supporter

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