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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. chest — of your body
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bass — low music
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. chest — a box
  7. march — the month
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. clip — a video
  10. march — music
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. kick — in football
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. track — a path
  15. march — the month
  16. track — to keep track
  17. chest — of your body
  18. clip — for paper
  19. track — a song
  20. bass — the fish
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. plane — a tool
  24. kick — with a leg

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