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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: ball · wind · arm · stick · object · cold · land · fan

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. object — an aim
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. land — a country
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. object — a thing
  15. wind — moving air
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. ball — a great time
  18. object — to protest
  19. wind — moving air
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. ball — a dance
  23. land — ground
  24. land — to come down

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