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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 ________________ went through the wall.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. fall — the season
  6. plane — a tool
  7. spell — letters
  8. rock — music
  9. file — a line of people
  10. spell — magic
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — not warm
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. file — a document
  17. spell — a short time
  18. file — a tool
  19. fall — to drop
  20. fall — to drop
  21. cold — an illness
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. rock — a stone

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