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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. bat — the animal
  3. chest — of your body
  4. drill — the tool
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. rest — a break
  8. chest — of your body
  9. court — of a king
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. drill — a practice
  12. chest — a box
  13. root — of a plant
  14. root — of a word
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. drill — army training
  17. root — the cause
  18. rest — what's left
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. rest — what's left
  21. cold — not warm
  22. court — of law
  23. cold — an illness
  24. arm — part of the body

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