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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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. patient — calm and waiting
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — to trim
  6. band — a ring
  7. land — a country
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. wake — a trail
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. land — to come down
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. land — ground
  15. degree — temperature
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. band — a music group
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. degree — an amount
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. degree — from a university
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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