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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: bound · arm · cold · current · pitch · squash · swing · tear

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. cold — an illness
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. squash — to crush
  7. tear — from crying
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. swing — music
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pitch — completely
  13. tear — to rip
  14. swing — to play on
  15. current — happening now
  16. bound — obliged
  17. swing — in golf
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. bound — tied together
  21. current — electric
  22. bound — certain
  23. tear — from crying
  24. current — of water

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