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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. lean — thin
  3. clip — for paper
  4. spell — a short time
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. clip — to cut
  7. swing — music
  8. lean — to bend
  9. clip — a video
  10. spell — magic
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. shower — to wash
  13. shower — rain
  14. sharp — clever
  15. swing — in golf
  16. swing — to play on
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. pitch — completely
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. spell — letters
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. row — to paddle

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