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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 116 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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. hand — help
  3. present — the time now
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. spell — a short time
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. track — a path
  9. face — to point toward
  10. swing — in golf
  11. track — a song
  12. cell — a phone
  13. hand — in cards
  14. swing — to play on
  15. clip — a video
  16. present — a gift
  17. track — to keep track
  18. face — to confront
  19. spell — magic
  20. cell — in biology
  21. spell — letters
  22. swing — music
  23. present — there
  24. face — part of the head

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