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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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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: degree · arm · chest · bat · land · lash · march · rest

  1. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. rest — what's left
  3. degree — from a university
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. march — the month
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. march — music
  12. land — to come down
  13. degree — temperature
  14. land — a country
  15. chest — of your body
  16. degree — an amount
  17. march — the month
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — the animal
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. chest — a box
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. rest — a break
  24. land — ground

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