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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. fall — the season
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. clip — to cut
  6. fall — to drop
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. swing — music
  9. swing — in golf
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. game — wild animals
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — for paper
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. row — to paddle
  16. swing — to play on
  17. vault — a safe
  18. fall — to drop
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bat — the animal
  22. dip — to sink
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. game — a match

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