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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. file — a line of people
  4. net — in sport
  5. chest — a box
  6. net — for catching
  7. clip — for paper
  8. pop — music
  9. stem — to come from
  10. net — after costs
  11. file — a tool
  12. clip — to cut
  13. lean — to bend
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. file — a document
  16. pop — soda
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. pop — to visit
  20. chest — of your body
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. lean — thin
  23. clip — a video
  24. stem — of a plant

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