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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 120 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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. spell — a short time
  4. spell — letters
  5. hand — help
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. hand — in cards
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. row — to paddle
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. wound — an injury
  12. degree — an amount
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. capital — a city
  15. spell — magic
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. wound — an injury
  18. degree — from a university
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. capital — money
  21. row — a line
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. degree — temperature

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