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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. row — to paddle
  4. kid — to tease
  5. swing — music
  6. cold — an illness
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. pop — soda
  9. pop — to visit
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cold — not warm
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. clip — a video
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. swing — to play on
  16. pop — music
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. swing — in golf
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. row — a line
  22. fine — all right
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. fine — high quality

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