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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 120 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 had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. ground — crushed
  4. chest — of your body
  5. row — to paddle
  6. chest — of your body
  7. ground — the earth
  8. row — a line
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. ground — a position
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. swing — music
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. chest — a box
  19. mine — for digging
  20. swing — in golf
  21. swing — to play on
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. wind — moving air

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