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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. mark — a grade
  8. cold — an illness
  9. net — for catching
  10. net — after costs
  11. march — music
  12. spring — a coil
  13. spring — of water
  14. kid — child
  15. current — of water
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. spring — the season
  19. kid — to tease
  20. current — happening now
  21. mark — a trace
  22. net — in sport
  23. march — the month
  24. current — electric

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