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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. swing — music
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. present — there
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. cold — an illness
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. swing — in golf
  13. present — the time now
  14. tear — from crying
  15. perch — the fish
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. snap — to click
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. swing — to play on
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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