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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: face · tear · roll · spring · bat · foot · pound · arm

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. spring — of water
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. foot — a measure
  6. roll — a list
  7. roll — a cake
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. tear — to rip
  10. face — to confront
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. face — to point toward
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. bat — the animal
  16. spring — a coil
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. spring — the season
  19. pound — a weight
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. tear — from crying
  22. face — part of the head
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. tear — from crying

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