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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 seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. pit — in a race
  3. pit — a hole
  4. branch — a division
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. kick — in football
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. rash — a series
  11. clip — a video
  12. rash — hasty
  13. cell — a phone
  14. clip — for paper
  15. kid — child
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. kid — to tease
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. clip — to cut
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. cell — in biology

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