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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. last — to go on
  3. bat — the animal
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. last — final
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. chest — a box
  8. lean — thin
  9. lean — to bend
  10. capital — a city
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. stock — shares
  14. tear — to rip
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. stock — goods
  18. last — finally
  19. chest — of your body
  20. capital — money
  21. tear — from crying
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. tear — from crying
  24. stock — a soup base

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