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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. clip — a video
  7. board — a committee
  8. game — wild animals
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. kid — child
  12. swing — to play on
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. capital — money
  15. capital — a city
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. game — a match
  18. board — to get on
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. swing — in golf
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. kid — to tease

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