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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. swing — in golf
  3. swing — to play on
  4. cap — of ice
  5. tube — a container
  6. sharp — clever
  7. swing — music
  8. cap — a hat
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. file — a tool
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. fork — in a road
  13. file — a line of people
  14. clip — a video
  15. club — for golf
  16. file — a document
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. cap — a lid
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. clip — to cut
  21. club — for dancing
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. clip — for paper
  24. club — a group

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