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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. swing — in golf
  3. saw — the tool
  4. band — a music group
  5. pop — music
  6. saw — the tool
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. perch — the fish
  12. bat — the animal
  13. game — a match
  14. game — wild animals
  15. clip — to cut
  16. swing — music
  17. band — a ring
  18. swing — to play on
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. clip — for paper
  21. pop — to visit
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. clip — a video
  24. pop — soda

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