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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 120 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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. cell — a phone
  3. kid — child
  4. swing — music
  5. clip — a video
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. cell — in biology
  9. clip — to cut
  10. mug — a cup
  11. swing — in golf
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. mug — a face
  14. spell — magic
  15. clip — for paper
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. spell — a short time
  18. content — happy
  19. mug — to rob
  20. perch — the fish
  21. kid — to tease
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. content — the amount
  24. swing — to play on

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