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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. track — a song
  3. track — to keep track
  4. rest — what's left
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. chest — a box
  7. rest — a break
  8. ground — the earth
  9. rest — what's left
  10. hand — in cards
  11. hand — help
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. ground — a position
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a tool
  16. track — a path
  17. chest — of your body
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. kid — child
  20. file — a line of people
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. ground — crushed
  23. kid — to tease
  24. chest — of your body

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