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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. board — to get on
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. spring — of water
  6. spring — a coil
  7. bat — the animal
  8. spring — the season
  9. board — a committee
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. field — for sport
  16. rock — music
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. field — a subject
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. field — farmland
  21. rock — a stone
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. straw — dry grass

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