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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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Word bank
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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: last · squash · patient · chest · track · clip · shower · snap

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. shower — rain
  3. squash — to crush
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. shower — to wash
  6. track — to keep track
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. chest — of your body
  9. squash — the sport
  10. clip — for paper
  11. last — final
  12. snap — to click
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. last — to go on
  15. track — a path
  16. clip — to cut
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. clip — a video
  21. last — finally
  22. track — a song
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. chest — a box

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