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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. game — a match
  3. spell — magic
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. chest — of your body
  6. game — wild animals
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. rush — hurry
  12. kid — child
  13. bat — the animal
  14. spell — a short time
  15. chest — a box
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. spell — letters
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. kid — to tease

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