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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. swing — to play on
  5. spell — letters
  6. spell — a short time
  7. cold — an illness
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. file — a document
  12. cold — not warm
  13. swing — in golf
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. game — wild animals
  16. game — a match
  17. file — a line of people
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. spell — magic
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. file — a tool

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