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

Word bank: branch · content · arm · sharp · row · net · swing · drill

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. net — after costs
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. swing — to play on
  6. row — a line
  7. drill — the tool
  8. drill — a practice
  9. branch — a division
  10. drill — army training
  11. content — the amount
  12. net — for catching
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. content — happy
  16. swing — in golf
  17. swing — music
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. net — in sport
  21. sharp — clever
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. row — to paddle
  24. sharp — exactly

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