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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. bass — the fish
  3. perch — the fish
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. drill — army training
  8. capital — a city
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cold — an illness
  11. drill — a practice
  12. pass — a permit
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bass — low music
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. chest — of your body
  19. drill — the tool
  20. cold — not warm
  21. pass — to succeed
  22. chest — a box
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. arm — part of the body

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