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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. last — finally
  4. capital — a city
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. file — a document
  8. last — final
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. file — a tool
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cell — a phone
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. hand — in cards
  18. cell — in biology
  19. kick — in football
  20. last — to go on
  21. hand — help
  22. capital — money
  23. file — a line of people
  24. bat — for baseball

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