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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chair — a leader
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — a box
  6. ball — a dance
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. wind — moving air
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. ball — a great time
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wind — moving air
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bat — the animal
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wind — to turn a key

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