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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. field — a subject
  4. mark — a trace
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. field — for sport
  8. cold — an illness
  9. field — farmland
  10. pound — a weight
  11. wind — moving air
  12. mark — a grade
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. wind — moving air
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. pound — to hit hard

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