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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. shower — to wash
  4. clip — a video
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. cold — an illness
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bank — for money
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bank — of a river
  15. bank — for money
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. shower — rain
  19. dip — to sink
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. cold — not warm
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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