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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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. spell — a short time
  4. spell — letters
  5. swing — music
  6. row — a line
  7. wound — an injury
  8. ball — a dance
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. kick — in football
  11. row — to paddle
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. swing — in golf
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. swing — to play on
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. dip — to sink
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. spell — magic
  24. wound — an injury

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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