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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 · straw · prune · spell · sharp · arm · cell · chest

  1. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. chest — of your body
  3. march — the month
  4. spell — a short time
  5. spell — letters
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cell — a phone
  10. chest — a box
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. cell — in biology
  13. prune — to trim
  14. march — the month
  15. spell — magic
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. sharp — clever
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. prune — to trim
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. march — music
  24. sharp — with an edge

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