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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. fall — the season
  3. clip — to cut
  4. deal — to handle
  5. prune — to trim
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. swing — in golf
  8. charge — electricity
  9. prune — to trim
  10. swing — music
  11. kid — child
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. charge — in control
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. clip — for paper
  16. fall — to drop
  17. march — music
  18. charge — a price
  19. clip — a video
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. fall — to drop
  22. march — the month
  23. swing — to play on
  24. march — the month

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