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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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  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. arm — a part of something
  2. cold — not warm
  3. squash — the sport
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. scale — size or range
  7. squash — to crush
  8. race — a contest
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. cold — an illness
  11. wind — moving air
  12. scale — in music
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. race — the arms race
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. branch — a division
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. race — humankind
  23. wind — moving air
  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