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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. file — a tool
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. cell — a phone
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. file — a line of people
  10. net — after costs
  11. bat — the animal
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. file — a document
  14. date — the fruit
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. dip — to sink
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. cell — in biology
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. net — for catching
  23. net — in sport
  24. date — on the calendar

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