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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. swing — to play on
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. face — to point toward
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. clip — to cut
  8. row — a line
  9. clip — a video
  10. march — the month
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. march — the month
  14. chip — for betting
  15. swing — in golf
  16. face — to confront
  17. mine — for digging
  18. face — part of the head
  19. swing — music
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. clip — for paper
  22. chip — to eat
  23. march — music
  24. row — to paddle

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