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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. swing — in golf
  3. fine — all right
  4. cold — an illness
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. race — humankind
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. swing — music
  11. tube — the underground
  12. march — the month
  13. race — the arms race
  14. race — a contest
  15. perch — the fish
  16. cold — not warm
  17. fine — high quality
  18. tube — a container
  19. march — music
  20. branch — a division
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. march — the month
  24. tube — in a tire

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