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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: scale · wake · chest · clip · mine · craft · lean · bat

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. clip — to cut
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. clip — for paper
  7. craft — a skill
  8. craft — boats
  9. lean — to bend
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. wake — a trail
  15. scale — in music
  16. scale — size or range
  17. mine — for digging
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. lean — thin
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. bat — the animal
  23. clip — a video
  24. chest — of your body

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