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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. swing — to play on
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. swing — in golf
  5. clip — to cut
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. bank — for money
  8. rush — hurry
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. bank — for money
  11. row — to paddle
  12. clip — for paper
  13. clip — a video
  14. squash — to crush
  15. bank — of a river
  16. snap — to click
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. march — the month
  20. squash — the sport
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. row — a line
  23. march — music
  24. swing — music

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