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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 120 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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. rest — what's left
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. rule — a law
  9. craft — a skill
  10. cold — an illness
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. pit — a hole
  13. pit — in a race
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. rest — what's left
  16. chest — a box
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. rule — government
  22. rest — a break
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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