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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: straw · kick · arm · row · net · tube · last · bat

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. net — in sport
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. net — after costs
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. bat — the animal
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. last — final
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. kick — in football
  14. tube — a container
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. row — a line
  17. last — to go on
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. last — finally
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. tube — the underground
  23. row — to paddle
  24. net — for catching

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