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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. snap — to click
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. tear — to rip
  5. stock — goods
  6. tear — from crying
  7. spring — a coil
  8. stock — shares
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. tear — from crying
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. capital — a city
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. capital — money
  18. spring — the season
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. spring — of water
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. foot — a measure
  24. arm — a part of something

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