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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: arm · wake · sharp · kid · wound · cell · press · mark

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. kid — child
  3. wound — an injury
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. kid — to tease
  9. mark — a trace
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. press — to push
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. sharp — clever
  14. cell — a phone
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. mark — a grade
  19. wake — a trail
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. press — a publisher
  22. cell — in biology
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. press — newspapers

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