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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. swing — to play on
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. object — to protest
  5. scale — size or range
  6. swing — music
  7. clip — for paper
  8. present — a gift
  9. object — an aim
  10. present — there
  11. swing — in golf
  12. clip — a video
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. kid — child
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. object — a thing
  17. clip — to cut
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. present — the time now
  20. scale — in music
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. kid — to tease
  24. straw — dry grass

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