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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 ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. club — a group
  5. chest — a box
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. club — for golf
  9. bat — the animal
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. root — of a plant
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. root — the cause
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. chest — of your body
  16. hand — in cards
  17. cell — a phone
  18. hand — help
  19. bark — to shout
  20. chest — of your body
  21. club — for dancing
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. cell — in biology

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