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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. rash — a series
  3. last — finally
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. file — a tool
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bulb — for light
  8. chest — a box
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. bulb — for light
  11. file — a line of people
  12. file — a document
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. chest — of your body
  15. rash — hasty
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. last — final
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. march — music
  20. last — to go on
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. kid — child
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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