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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 120 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 · fork · degree · wound · cell · fall · chest · last

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. degree — an amount
  6. last — to go on
  7. degree — temperature
  8. fall — to drop
  9. fork — in a road
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. fall — the season
  12. degree — from a university
  13. chest — of your body
  14. wound — an injury
  15. fall — to drop
  16. last — finally
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. chest — a box
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cell — a phone
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cell — in biology
  24. last — final

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