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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. clip — a video
  4. swing — music
  5. cell — a phone
  6. rest — a break
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. band — a ring
  10. band — a music group
  11. swing — to play on
  12. clip — for paper
  13. content — the amount
  14. content — happy
  15. cell — in biology
  16. swing — in golf
  17. rest — what's left
  18. clip — to cut
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. rest — what's left

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