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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. land — a country
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. drill — the tool
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wound — an injury
  11. drill — army training
  12. race — the arms race
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. race — humankind
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. land — to come down
  17. land — ground
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. cold — an illness
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. wound — an injury
  22. race — a contest
  23. drill — a practice
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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