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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. net — after costs
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. court — of law
  9. prune — to trim
  10. cold — an illness
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of a king
  14. prune — to trim
  15. net — for catching
  16. spring — a coil
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. cold — not warm
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — the season
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. net — in sport
  24. prune — the fruit

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