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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 116 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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. wound — an injury
  5. cold — not warm
  6. season — in sport
  7. swing — music
  8. wake — a trail
  9. cold — an illness
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. swing — to play on
  12. season — of the year
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. row — to paddle
  15. wound — an injury
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — for paper
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. clip — to cut
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. row — a line
  24. swing — in golf

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