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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 120 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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. tear — from crying
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. net — after costs
  11. lean — thin
  12. tear — from crying
  13. branch — a division
  14. tear — to rip
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. kid — to tease
  17. net — in sport
  18. kid — child
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. net — for catching
  22. chest — a box
  23. chest — of your body
  24. lean — to bend

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