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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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Word bank
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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 tickets are free of ________________.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. field — for sport
  6. hand — help
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. charge — in control
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. game — a match
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. game — wild animals
  13. charge — electricity
  14. clip — a video
  15. kid — child
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. clip — for paper
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. hand — in cards
  21. field — a subject
  22. kid — to tease
  23. clip — to cut
  24. field — farmland

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