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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
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Word bank
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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: spring · bowl · cold · arm · squash · date · game · jam

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. squash — the sport
  5. jam — to spread on bread
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. spring — of water
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. game — a match
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. date — the fruit
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. squash — to crush
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. spring — a coil
  20. spring — the season
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. game — wild animals

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