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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. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. chest — a box
  3. saw — the tool
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. chest — of your body
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. row — to paddle
  9. chest — of your body
  10. clip — a video
  11. kick — in football
  12. date — the fruit
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. swing — music
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. saw — the tool
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. swing — to play on
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. row — a line

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