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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. spring — a coil
  3. spring — of water
  4. fall — to drop
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. saw — the tool
  8. capital — money
  9. fall — the season
  10. game — a match
  11. capital — a city
  12. saw — the tool
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. kid — child
  15. spring — the season
  16. kid — to tease
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. game — wild animals
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. fall — to drop

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