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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. chest — of your body
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. capital — money
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. club — a group
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — a box
  10. file — a tool
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. club — for golf
  15. perch — the fish
  16. capital — a city
  17. file — a line of people
  18. file — a document
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. kick — in football
  22. club — for dancing
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. kick — with a leg

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