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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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. ground — a position
  3. pop — soda
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. row — to paddle
  6. ground — the earth
  7. pop — music
  8. row — a line
  9. deal — to handle
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. pop — to visit
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wake — a trail
  14. chest — a box
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. net — after costs
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. net — in sport
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. ground — crushed
  23. clip — a video
  24. net — for catching

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