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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: mine · bat · fall · row · chest · clip · scale · nail

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. chest — of your body
  3. fall — the season
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. chest — a box
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. fall — to drop
  9. scale — size or range
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. row — to paddle
  13. clip — a video
  14. bat — the animal
  15. scale — in music
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. row — a line
  21. mine — for digging
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. fall — to drop
  24. nail — for a hammer

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