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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'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. wound — an injury
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. net — in sport
  7. land — to come down
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. face — to confront
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cold — an illness
  13. face — part of the head
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. face — to point toward
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. perch — the fish
  19. net — after costs
  20. cold — not warm
  21. net — for catching
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. land — a country
  24. land — ground

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