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

Word bank: chest · bore · fall · capital · bat · cell

  1. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. capital — money
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cell — in biology
  5. cell — a phone
  6. chest — a box
  7. fall — to drop
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. capital — a city
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bore — to tire
  12. fall — to drop
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bore — to drill
  18. capital — a big letter

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