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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. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  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. swing — to play on
  2. date — the fruit
  3. shower — to wash
  4. face — to point toward
  5. fork — in a road
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. clip — to cut
  8. face — part of the head
  9. swing — in golf
  10. can — a tin
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. clip — for paper
  14. can — a tin
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. clip — a video
  17. shower — rain
  18. can — to be able to
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. mine — for digging
  22. face — to confront
  23. fork — a garden tool
  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