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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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. wound — an injury
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cap — a hat
  5. current — of water
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. file — a document
  11. spring — of water
  12. spring — a coil
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. cap — of ice
  15. current — electric
  16. file — a tool
  17. current — happening now
  18. file — a line of people
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. cap — a lid
  21. wound — an injury
  22. prune — to trim
  23. spring — the season
  24. straw — a straw man

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