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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: club · arm · bat · file · roll · bay · clip · hide

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. club — for dancing
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. roll — a cake
  8. roll — a list
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. file — a document
  14. club — a group
  15. file — a tool
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. club — for golf
  18. file — a line of people
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bay — a part of the sea
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. clip — for paper

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