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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 120 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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. ball — a dance
  5. chest — a box
  6. swing — to play on
  7. swing — in golf
  8. swing — music
  9. hand — help
  10. mark — a grade
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. hand — in cards
  13. bat — the animal
  14. mark — a trace
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. chest — of your body
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — not warm

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