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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 116 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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. march — the month
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. chair — a leader
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. clip — for paper
  8. march — the month
  9. swing — in golf
  10. wind — moving air
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. march — music
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — a video
  15. swing — music
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. pop — soda
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. pop — music
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. pop — to visit

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