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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 120 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: temple · court · bat · scale · stick · cold · chest · arm

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. scale — size or range
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. court — of a king
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. bat — the animal
  13. court — for sport
  14. scale — in music
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. chest — of your body
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. court — of law
  19. cold — an illness
  20. chest — a box
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — the Cold War

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