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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. clip — to cut
  4. chest — of your body
  5. court — for sport
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. chest — of your body
  8. clip — for paper
  9. swing — to play on
  10. court — of a king
  11. chest — a box
  12. pop — to visit
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. court — of law
  19. pop — music
  20. swing — in golf
  21. clip — a video
  22. pitch — completely
  23. date — the fruit
  24. pop — soda

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