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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've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. kid — child
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. stand — to bear
  6. kid — to tease
  7. wound — an injury
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. march — the month
  12. march — music
  13. wound — an injury
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. spell — a short time
  19. march — the month
  20. spell — magic
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spell — letters
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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