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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: arm · chest · ball · lash · court · mate · date · cold

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. mate — a partner
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. court — of law
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. court — of a king
  9. cold — not warm
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mate — to breed
  13. mate — a friend
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. court — for sport
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. ball — a dance
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. date — the fruit
  23. ball — a great time
  24. cold — the Cold War

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