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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. land — a country
  4. row — a line
  5. file — a document
  6. file — a tool
  7. prune — to trim
  8. prune — to trim
  9. file — a line of people
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. rest — what's left
  16. land — to come down
  17. rest — what's left
  18. row — to paddle
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. pitch — completely
  22. rest — a break
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. arm — a part of something

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