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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's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. chest — of your body
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. rock — music
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. rock — a stone
  8. chest — a box
  9. charge — electricity
  10. net — after costs
  11. kid — child
  12. charge — in control
  13. charge — a price
  14. net — for catching
  15. net — in sport
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. swing — to play on
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. swing — music
  22. sharp — clever
  23. swing — in golf
  24. chest — of your body

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