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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. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. track — a song
  4. spring — a coil
  5. capital — a city
  6. cold — an illness
  7. chest — of your body
  8. face — to point toward
  9. spring — of water
  10. face — to confront
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. capital — money
  13. spring — the season
  14. ruler — a monarch
  15. track — to keep track
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. face — part of the head
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — a box
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. cold — not warm
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. track — a path

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