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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. chest — of your body
  3. clip — a video
  4. squash — the sport
  5. cold — not warm
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. fine — all right
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. current — of water
  12. cold — an illness
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. clip — for paper
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — a box
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. current — happening now
  21. current — electric
  22. squash — to crush
  23. clip — to cut
  24. mouse — for a computer

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