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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. file — a document
  4. swing — to play on
  5. clip — for paper
  6. file — a tool
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. spring — a coil
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. swing — in golf
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — to cut
  17. branch — a division
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. bat — the animal
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. file — a line of people
  24. swing — music

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