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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 · patient · band · cold · pitcher · chip · foot · kid

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  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. arm — part of the body
  2. chip — for betting
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. cold — not warm
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. foot — a measure
  12. cold — an illness
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. band — a music group
  16. chip — to eat
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. kid — child
  19. kid — to tease
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. band — a ring
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  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