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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. chest — of your body
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. scale — size or range
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. scale — in music
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. clip — to cut
  13. chest — of your body
  14. clip — for paper
  15. clip — a video
  16. field — a subject
  17. chest — a box
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. mate — a partner
  20. bat — the animal
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. mate — to breed

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