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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. stock — goods
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. cold — an illness
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. march — the month
  10. shower — rain
  11. march — music
  12. file — a line of people
  13. shower — to wash
  14. march — the month
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. bore — to tire
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. stock — shares
  20. file — a document
  21. cold — not warm
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. bore — to drill
  24. file — a tool

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