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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. drill — the tool
  4. kick — in football
  5. clip — for paper
  6. drill — a practice
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. pound — a weight
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. cell — a phone
  13. drill — army training
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. row — a line
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. cell — in biology
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. fork — in a road
  24. row — to paddle

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