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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: wind · temple · row · arm · jam · cold · face · chip

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. wind — moving air
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. chip — to eat
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. row — to paddle
  8. face — to confront
  9. wind — moving air
  10. chip — for betting
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. face — to point toward
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. row — a line
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. jam — in traffic
  18. face — part of the head
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. chip — in a computer

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