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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. cap — of ice
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. band — a music group
  5. hand — help
  6. cap — a hat
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. ground — a position
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. cap — a lid
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. ground — the earth
  14. ground — crushed
  15. band — a ring
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. hand — in cards
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — for digging
  23. chest — of your body
  24. hand — 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