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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. ________________ you help me carry this box?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. chest — a box
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. bear — the animal
  10. can — a tin
  11. can — a tin
  12. prune — to trim
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. field — farmland
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bear — the animal
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. prune — to trim
  20. chest — of your body
  21. field — a subject
  22. field — for sport
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. can — to be able to

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