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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: arm · wound · cold · fall · rule · foot · cell · sharp

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. foot — a measure
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. sharp — clever
  6. fall — to drop
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rule — government
  9. wound — an injury
  10. cell — in biology
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cell — a phone
  20. cold — an illness
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. fall — the season
  23. rule — a law
  24. arm — part of the body

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