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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. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. swing — music
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. march — the month
  6. clip — to cut
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. row — a line
  9. swing — to play on
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. cell — in biology
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. clip — for paper
  15. march — music
  16. march — the month
  17. swing — in golf
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. clip — a video
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. row — to paddle

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