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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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. ball — a great time
  5. capital — money
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. bat — the animal
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. roll — a list
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. degree — an amount
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. capital — a city
  16. roll — a cake
  17. sharp — clever
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. degree — temperature
  20. degree — from a university
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. sharp — exactly

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