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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. spring — the season
  3. chest — of your body
  4. rule — a law
  5. clip — a video
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. swing — to play on
  9. chest — of your body
  10. swing — in golf
  11. bulb — for light
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. clip — to cut
  14. pound — a weight
  15. spring — of water
  16. bulb — for light
  17. spring — a coil
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. chest — a box
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. clip — for paper
  22. rule — government
  23. swing — music
  24. racket — for tennis

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