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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. mate — to breed
  4. last — final
  5. wind — moving air
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. scale — size or range
  8. bay — to keep at bay
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. cold — an illness
  13. kid — child
  14. last — to go on
  15. last — finally
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. mate — a friend
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. kid — to tease
  20. cold — not warm
  21. mate — a partner
  22. bay — a part of the sea
  23. scale — in music
  24. wind — moving air

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