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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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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: lean · clip · chest · rash · patient · rock · firm · cold

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. rock — music
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. rock — a stone
  7. chest — of your body
  8. firm — a company
  9. lean — to bend
  10. cold — not warm
  11. chest — a box
  12. firm — decided
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. lean — thin
  18. rash — hasty
  19. clip — to cut
  20. firm — steady
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. rash — a series
  24. clip — a video

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