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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. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. kid — child
  3. mate — to breed
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. march — the month
  6. stem — to come from
  7. chest — a box
  8. march — the month
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mate — a partner
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. march — music
  15. kid — to tease
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — of your body
  18. ball — a great time
  19. ball — a dance
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. mate — a friend
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — the animal

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