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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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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: shower · safe · chip · rest · rock · cold · craft · chest

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  17. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  18. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. chip — to eat
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. cold — an illness
  5. chest — of your body
  6. rest — a break
  7. chest — of your body
  8. craft — boats
  9. chip — for betting
  10. chest — a box
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. craft — a skill
  13. cold — not warm
  14. shower — rain
  15. rest — what's left
  16. safe — a strongbox
  17. safe — out of danger
  18. safe — out of danger
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. rock — a stone
  21. shower — to wash
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. rest — what's left
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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