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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. cold — not warm
  5. ground — the earth
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bound — obliged
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cell — a phone
  15. ground — crushed
  16. bat — the animal
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. saw — the tool
  19. bound — tied together
  20. ground — a position
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. bound — certain
  24. saw — the tool

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