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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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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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. arm — a part of something
  4. rule — a law
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. chest — a box
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. kid — to tease
  13. prune — to trim
  14. shower — rain
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — to wash
  17. prune — to trim
  18. row — a line
  19. chest — of your body
  20. rule — government
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. kid — child
  23. row — to paddle
  24. row — a quarrel

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