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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.

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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: wound · pit · rest · present · nail · chest · clip · row

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. present — the time now
  4. pit — in a race
  5. rest — a break
  6. pit — a hole
  7. chest — of your body
  8. rest — what's left
  9. row — to paddle
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. clip — for paper
  13. row — a line
  14. wound — an injury
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. chest — a box
  17. clip — a video
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. chest — of your body
  20. present — there
  21. wound — an injury
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. clip — to cut
  24. rest — what's left

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