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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: last · wind · bat · clip · mate · jam · rule · arm

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. rule — government
  4. mate — to breed
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. rule — a law
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — moving air
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. mate — a partner
  12. last — final
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. clip — to cut
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. last — to go on
  17. clip — a video
  18. mate — a friend
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. last — finally
  23. bat — the animal
  24. wind — to turn a key

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