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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. cap — a lid
  3. bear — the animal
  4. rest — what's left
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. clip — a video
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — an illness
  9. swing — in golf
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. cap — of ice
  12. chest — of your body
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. clip — for paper
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. bear — the animal
  19. chest — of your body
  20. rest — a break
  21. chest — a box
  22. rest — what's left
  23. swing — music
  24. cap — a hat

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