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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. clip — for paper
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. rash — hasty
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. prune — to trim
  7. clip — to cut
  8. prune — to trim
  9. bat — the animal
  10. rash — a series
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — in cards
  16. hand — help
  17. swing — music
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. swing — in golf
  20. squash — the sport
  21. clip — a video
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. swing — to play on
  24. squash — to crush

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