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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. pound — a weight
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. clip — for paper
  5. swing — in golf
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. rash — a series
  8. chest — of your body
  9. band — a music group
  10. chest — of your body
  11. net — for catching
  12. rash — hasty
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. bulb — for light
  16. band — a ring
  17. net — in sport
  18. net — after costs
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. swing — to play on
  22. swing — music
  23. bulb — for light
  24. pound — for dogs

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