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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. current — of water
  4. cold — not warm
  5. tear — from crying
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. court — of a king
  8. bound — obliged
  9. court — for sport
  10. tear — from crying
  11. snap — to click
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. court — of law
  14. tear — to rip
  15. current — electric
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. bound — certain
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. bat — the animal
  21. current — happening now
  22. bound — tied together
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bat — for baseball

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