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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. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. swing — music
  3. wound — an injury
  4. last — final
  5. swing — to play on
  6. last — finally
  7. last — to go on
  8. dip — to sink
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. spring — the season
  11. wound — an injury
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. clip — for paper
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. spring — of water
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. spring — a coil
  20. clip — to cut
  21. clip — a video
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. wake — a trail
  24. bat — the animal

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