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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. drill — army training
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. rest — what's left
  5. file — a line of people
  6. land — ground
  7. rest — a break
  8. cue — a hint
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cue — a signal
  12. file — a tool
  13. cue — for pool
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. drill — a practice
  16. bass — the fish
  17. land — a country
  18. rest — what's left
  19. drill — the tool
  20. file — a document
  21. cold — not warm
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. bass — low music

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