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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: safe · chair · clip · hand · arm · cold · ruler · spell

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. safe — a strongbox
  5. clip — to cut
  6. hand — help
  7. spell — magic
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — for paper
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. hand — in cards
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. ruler — a monarch
  17. chair — a leader
  18. spell — letters
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. cold — not warm
  24. spell — a short time

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