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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. band — a ring
  3. saw — the tool
  4. fine — high quality
  5. band — a music group
  6. tear — from crying
  7. fine — all right
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wound — an injury
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. swing — in golf
  13. chest — of your body
  14. swing — to play on
  15. wound — an injury
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. tear — from crying
  18. swing — music
  19. branch — a division
  20. chest — a box
  21. saw — the tool
  22. tear — to rip
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. fine — a penalty

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