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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 120 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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. kid — to tease
  3. swing — to play on
  4. branch — a division
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. clip — a video
  7. scale — size or range
  8. clip — for paper
  9. mate — to breed
  10. mate — a partner
  11. club — for dancing
  12. clip — to cut
  13. mine — for digging
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. club — for golf
  16. club — a group
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. scale — in music
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. kid — child
  21. swing — in golf
  22. swing — music
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. scale — for weighing

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