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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. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. shower — to wash
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. tear — from crying
  6. shower — rain
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. kid — to tease
  9. tear — to rip
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — for paper
  14. tear — from crying
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. game — wild animals
  17. kid — child
  18. game — a match
  19. clip — to cut
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. swing — music
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. swing — to play 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