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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 coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  11. When will it ________________ you to start?
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. cold — not warm
  3. scale — size or range
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. swing — to play on
  6. march — music
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chest — of your body
  10. suit — clothes
  11. suit — to fit
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. chest — a box
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. snap — to click
  17. scale — in music
  18. suit — in cards
  19. march — the month
  20. march — the month
  21. cold — an illness
  22. chest — of your body
  23. swing — music
  24. scale — for weighing

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