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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
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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: land · scale · net · cold · key · chest · arm · bore

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. key — the most important part
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. chest — of your body
  6. key — for a lock
  7. bore — to tire
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cold — an illness
  10. land — ground
  11. key — in music
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. scale — size or range
  15. bore — to drill
  16. cold — not warm
  17. net — after costs
  18. net — in sport
  19. scale — in music
  20. chest — a box
  21. net — for catching
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. land — to come down

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