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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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 — for baseball
  3. clip — a video
  4. hand — help
  5. pitch — completely
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. clip — for paper
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. wax — to grow
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. squash — to crush
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. hand — in cards
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. squash — the sport
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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