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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. cap — of ice
  4. file — a line of people
  5. dip — to sink
  6. prune — to trim
  7. last — final
  8. prune — to trim
  9. swing — to play on
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. file — a tool
  12. swing — in golf
  13. cap — a hat
  14. cap — a lid
  15. court — for sport
  16. last — finally
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. court — of a king
  19. bat — the animal
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. court — of law
  23. file — a document
  24. last — to go on

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