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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. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. march — the month
  4. craft — boats
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. field — a subject
  8. cold — not warm
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. mug — a cup
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. march — music
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. scale — size or range
  15. field — for sport
  16. mug — a face
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. cold — an illness
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. craft — a skill
  21. scale — in music
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. march — the month
  24. field — farmland

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