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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. swing — in golf
  3. wake — a trail
  4. cold — an illness
  5. date — the fruit
  6. rash — hasty
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — for paper
  10. fork — in a road
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. swing — music
  15. wind — moving air
  16. swing — to play on
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. rash — a series
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wind — moving air
  24. clip — to cut

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