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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. net — after costs
  3. lean — to bend
  4. scale — size or range
  5. tear — from crying
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. net — for catching
  10. stand — for spectators
  11. clip — to cut
  12. chest — of your body
  13. scale — in music
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. lean — thin
  16. clip — for paper
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. net — in sport
  19. stand — to bear
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. clip — a video
  23. chest — of your body
  24. scale — for weighing

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