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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: nail · chest · sharp · arm · foot · branch · scale · date

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. date — the fruit
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. chest — a box
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. chest — of your body
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. branch — a division
  15. scale — size or range
  16. foot — a measure
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. scale — in music
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. branch — of a bank

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