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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: pit · rest · wound · wake · rock · cell · land · chest

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — ground
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. rock — a stone
  6. wound — an injury
  7. rest — a break
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cell — in biology
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — what's left
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. chest — a box
  14. land — a country
  15. pit — in a race
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. cell — a phone
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wake — a trail
  23. pit — a hole
  24. rock — music

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