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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 120 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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. swing — in golf
  3. charge — in control
  4. charge — a price
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. clip — a video
  7. swing — to play on
  8. staff — employees
  9. race — the arms race
  10. clip — to cut
  11. last — final
  12. charge — electricity
  13. race — a contest
  14. swing — music
  15. cold — not warm
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. clip — for paper
  18. last — to go on
  19. last — finally
  20. staff — employees
  21. race — humankind
  22. hand — in cards
  23. cold — an illness
  24. hand — help

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