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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. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. content — happy
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. ground — a position
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. row — a line
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. branch — a division
  13. kid — child
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. row — to paddle
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. content — the amount
  18. kid — to tease
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. ground — crushed
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. bat — the animal
  24. ground — the earth

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