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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. rest — a break
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. clip — for paper
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. rest — what's left
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. ground — crushed
  13. cold — not warm
  14. ground — a position
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pit — in a race
  17. rest — what's left
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. cold — an illness
  21. clip — a video
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. ground — the earth
  24. pit — a hole

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