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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. wind — moving air
  3. kid — child
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. capital — money
  7. cold — an illness
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. foot — a measure
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. toast — bread
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. bat — the animal
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. wind — moving air
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. cold — not warm
  24. capital — a city

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