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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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 — final
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. wound — an injury
  5. spring — a coil
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. game — a match
  9. last — finally
  10. root — of a word
  11. pitch — completely
  12. last — to go on
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. spring — the season
  16. spring — of water
  17. root — the cause
  18. wound — an injury
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. root — of a plant
  24. game — wild animals

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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