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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. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. root — the cause
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. cold — not warm
  4. root — of a word
  5. bat — the animal
  6. swing — in golf
  7. staff — employees
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. staff — a stick
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. last — finally
  12. clip — for paper
  13. last — to go on
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. staff — employees
  16. swing — music
  17. cold — an illness
  18. clip — to cut
  19. root — of a plant
  20. clip — a video
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. swing — to play on
  24. last — final

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