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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: march · chest · date · straw · pit · tear

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. tear — from crying
  4. pit — a hole
  5. tear — to rip
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. march — music
  8. tear — from crying
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. chest — of your body
  11. march — the month
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. chest — a box
  16. march — the month
  17. pit — in a race
  18. date — the fruit

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