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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. last — finally
  3. land — to come down
  4. tube — the underground
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. present — a gift
  7. clip — to cut
  8. last — final
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. clip — a video
  11. last — to go on
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. hand — in cards
  14. hand — help
  15. land — ground
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. land — a country
  18. present — there
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. present — the time now
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. clip — for paper
  24. tube — a container

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