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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: march · degree · mug · hide · arm · saw · bound · wound

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. bound — obliged
  6. march — the month
  7. bound — tied together
  8. bound — certain
  9. wound — an injury
  10. mug — to rob
  11. mug — a cup
  12. march — music
  13. degree — from a university
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. wound — an injury
  16. saw — the tool
  17. mug — a face
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. saw — the tool
  21. degree — an amount
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. degree — temperature
  24. march — the month

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