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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. field — farmland
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. field — for sport
  8. swing — music
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. branch — a division
  13. wake — a trail
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. field — a subject
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. swing — in golf
  18. swing — to play on
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wake — before a funeral

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