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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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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. arm — a part of something
  4. net — for catching
  5. roll — a cake
  6. march — music
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. shower — to wash
  9. race — the arms race
  10. roll — a list
  11. field — a subject
  12. net — in sport
  13. field — for sport
  14. race — humankind
  15. net — after costs
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. march — the month
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. shower — rain
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. race — a contest
  22. march — the month
  23. field — farmland
  24. roll — on a roll

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