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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. clip — for paper
  3. land — to come down
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. land — a country
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. can — to be able to
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. land — ground
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. mine — for digging
  15. can — a tin
  16. clip — a video
  17. dip — to sink
  18. swing — in golf
  19. swing — music
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. clip — to cut
  22. can — a tin
  23. snap — to click
  24. dip — to dunk

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