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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. cold — an illness
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. rash — hasty
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. stock — shares
  9. game — a match
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. cold — not warm
  12. game — wild animals
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. capital — a city
  15. capital — money
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. chest — a box
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. chest — of your body
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. chest — of your body
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. stock — goods
  24. rash — a series

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