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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: bat · arm · present · jam · rest · clip · sharp · chair

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. rest — a break
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. rest — what's left
  5. clip — for paper
  6. present — a gift
  7. chair — a leader
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bat — the animal
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. present — the time now
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. present — there
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. rest — what's left
  19. jam — a tight spot
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. clip — a video
  23. jam — to spread on bread
  24. arm — a part of something

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