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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: arm · clip · prune · cold · firm · lie · pitcher · cell

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. clip — to cut
  7. lie — to recline
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. firm — a company
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. firm — decided
  13. clip — for paper
  14. cold — not warm
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. cold — an illness
  18. prune — to trim
  19. cell — in biology
  20. firm — steady
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. clip — a video
  24. cell — in a prison

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