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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. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. land — to come down
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. clip — for paper
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. net — after costs
  10. clip — a video
  11. bat — the animal
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. mine — for digging
  14. net — in sport
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. safe — a strongbox
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. land — ground
  21. net — for catching
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. land — a country
  24. clip — to cut

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