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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. row — to paddle
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. net — for catching
  6. net — in sport
  7. net — after costs
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. kid — to tease
  10. chest — a box
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. band — a music group
  13. cell — in biology
  14. chest — of your body
  15. kid — child
  16. row — a line
  17. cell — a phone
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. chest — of your body
  22. perch — the fish
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. perch — for a bird

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