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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. swing — music
  5. game — wild animals
  6. present — the time now
  7. charge — electricity
  8. charge — a price
  9. game — a match
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. swing — in golf
  12. present — a gift
  13. land — ground
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. land — a country
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. charge — in control
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. land — to come down
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. snap — to click
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. present — there

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