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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: arm · rule · clip · pound · foot · cold · pitch · row

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. clip — a video
  3. rule — a law
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. rule — government
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitch — completely
  8. row — a line
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. clip — to cut
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. row — to paddle
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. foot — a measure
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. clip — for paper
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. pound — a weight
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. cold — an illness
  23. foot — part of the body
  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