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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: wind · rest · cold · arm · chair · roll · march · mouse

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. rest — what's left
  7. march — the month
  8. wind — moving air
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. march — music
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. rest — what's left
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. chair — a leader
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. roll — a cake
  19. roll — a list
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. march — the month
  22. wind — moving air
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. cold — an illness

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