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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. chip — to eat
  3. clip — for paper
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. chip — for betting
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. court — of law
  10. clip — to cut
  11. court — of a king
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. clip — a video
  16. court — for sport
  17. mine — for digging
  18. saw — the tool
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bat — the animal
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. saw — the tool
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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