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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. swing — in golf
  3. spring — of water
  4. clip — to cut
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. wound — an injury
  7. roll — a list
  8. clip — for paper
  9. charge — electricity
  10. roll — a cake
  11. hand — in cards
  12. charge — a price
  13. spring — a coil
  14. ball — a dance
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. clip — a video
  17. ball — a great time
  18. charge — in control
  19. spring — the season
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. hand — help
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. swing — music
  24. wound — an injury

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