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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. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. hand — in cards
  3. capital — money
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. capital — a city
  6. row — a line
  7. swing — to play on
  8. chip — to eat
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. file — a line of people
  11. swing — music
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. file — a tool
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. bat — the animal
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. chip — for betting
  21. file — a document
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. hand — help
  24. row — to paddle

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