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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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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: cold · pitcher · sharp · spring · file · bound · foot · arm

  1. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — the bottom
  2. sharp — clever
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. file — a document
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. file — a line of people
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bound — certain
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. spring — a coil
  17. bound — tied together
  18. file — a tool
  19. foot — a measure
  20. bound — obliged
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. spring — of water
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. spring — the season

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