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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. scale — in music
  9. band — a music group
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. sharp — clever
  12. scale — size or range
  13. chest — of your body
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. capital — money
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. capital — a city
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. band — a ring
  24. arm — part of the body

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