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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: bat · bowl · arm · wax · game · straw · chest · nail

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. wax — to grow
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. chest — a box
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. game — a match
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. game — wild animals
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bat — the animal
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. nail — for a hammer

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