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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. Where did you ________________ them?
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. cold — an illness
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. ball — a dance
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. mug — a cup
  7. mug — to rob
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. mug — a face
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. sharp — clever
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. cold — not warm
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. date — the fruit
  21. ball — a great time
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. coach — a trainer

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