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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. clip — for paper
  4. craft — a skill
  5. jam — to spread on bread
  6. degree — from a university
  7. craft — boats
  8. clip — a video
  9. degree — temperature
  10. spell — a short time
  11. spell — letters
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. swing — in golf
  15. season — in sport
  16. spell — magic
  17. season — of the year
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. swing — music
  20. degree — an amount
  21. wax — to grow
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. clip — to cut

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