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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. march — the month
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. swing — music
  5. game — a match
  6. cell — in biology
  7. march — the month
  8. cell — a phone
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. march — music
  11. game — wild animals
  12. swing — to play on
  13. prune — to trim
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. prune — to trim
  18. pit — in a race
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. swing — in golf
  22. pit — a hole
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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