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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. squash — to crush
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. march — music
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. march — the month
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. spring — of water
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. hand — help
  13. chest — of your body
  14. hand — in cards
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. game — a match
  18. wax — to grow
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. game — wild animals
  21. spring — the season
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. squash — the sport
  24. march — the month

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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