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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. club — for dancing
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. swing — music
  7. kid — child
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. mine — for digging
  10. club — a group
  11. kid — to tease
  12. clip — to cut
  13. dip — to sink
  14. saw — the tool
  15. swing — in golf
  16. swing — to play on
  17. wind — moving air
  18. clip — for paper
  19. club — for golf
  20. wind — moving air
  21. saw — the tool
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. clip — a video
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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