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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. chest — of your body
  3. deal — to handle
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. chest — of your body
  6. cap — of ice
  7. cap — a hat
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. mine — for digging
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. chest — a box
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. branch — a division
  18. bat — the animal
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. wound — an injury
  24. bat — in an idiom

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