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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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. present — a gift
  3. chest — of your body
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. degree — from a university
  6. squash — the sport
  7. present — there
  8. chest — of your body
  9. squash — to crush
  10. degree — temperature
  11. net — for catching
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. present — the time now
  16. net — after costs
  17. face — part of the head
  18. chest — a box
  19. net — in sport
  20. face — to point toward
  21. degree — an amount
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. face — to confront
  24. arm — part of the body

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