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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The tickets are free of ________________.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. charge — electricity
  3. hand — in cards
  4. field — for sport
  5. cold — not warm
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. charge — a price
  8. charge — in control
  9. swing — to play on
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in biology
  15. march — the month
  16. march — the month
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. field — a subject
  19. swing — in golf
  20. hand — help
  21. field — farmland
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. march — music
  24. cold — the Cold War

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