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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 play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. swing — to play on
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. kid — child
  6. kid — to tease
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. chest — of your body
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bass — the fish
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. bass — low music
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. cell — a phone
  16. cell — in biology
  17. tube — a container
  18. swing — in golf
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. swing — music
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. tube — the underground
  24. chest — a box

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