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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — to go on
  3. last — finally
  4. hand — in cards
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. hand — help
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. game — wild animals
  11. club — for golf
  12. wound — an injury
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. club — for dancing
  15. band — a ring
  16. foot — a measure
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. wound — an injury
  20. club — a group
  21. game — a match
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. band — a music group

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