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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. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. swing — to play on
  3. row — a line
  4. swing — music
  5. row — to paddle
  6. wind — moving air
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. band — a music group
  9. net — for catching
  10. shower — to wash
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. net — in sport
  13. shower — rain
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. clip — for paper
  17. clip — a video
  18. net — after costs
  19. clip — to cut
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. kid — child
  22. kid — to tease
  23. wind — moving air
  24. band — a ring

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