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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. lean — to bend
  3. lean — thin
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. march — the month
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. cold — an illness
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. march — the month
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. stock — shares
  15. march — music
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — temperature
  18. stock — goods
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. degree — an amount

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