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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. cell — a phone
  3. rock — music
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. hand — in cards
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. capital — money
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. march — music
  12. cell — in biology
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. capital — a city
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. march — the month
  21. rock — a stone
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. hand — help
  24. march — the month

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