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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. swing — to play on
  4. race — a contest
  5. rash — hasty
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. fork — in a road
  8. cold — an illness
  9. race — the arms race
  10. swing — in golf
  11. clip — to cut
  12. race — humankind
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. cold — not warm
  15. tube — a container
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tube — the underground
  18. clip — for paper
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. rash — a series
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. clip — a video
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. fan — to cool the air

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