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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. swing — music
  5. clip — to cut
  6. craft — boats
  7. clip — a video
  8. land — to come down
  9. land — ground
  10. land — a country
  11. swing — in golf
  12. swing — to play on
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. chair — a leader
  16. wound — an injury
  17. saw — the tool
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. saw — the tool
  21. wound — an injury
  22. clip — for paper
  23. craft — a skill
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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