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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. game — a match
  7. object — to protest
  8. saw — the tool
  9. object — an aim
  10. board — a committee
  11. clip — a video
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. clip — to cut
  15. content — the amount
  16. game — wild animals
  17. board — to get on
  18. saw — the tool
  19. object — a thing
  20. content — happy
  21. clip — for paper
  22. cold — an illness
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. game — a kind of play

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