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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bat — the animal
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. cold — not warm
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. wind — moving air
  8. content — the amount
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. content — happy
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. wind — moving air
  15. root — the cause
  16. capital — money
  17. capital — a city
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. deal — to handle
  21. root — of a word
  22. root — of a plant
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. bat — in an idiom

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