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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 tickets are free of ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. game — wild animals
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. field — farmland
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. field — for sport
  7. dip — to sink
  8. swing — in golf
  9. charge — in control
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. field — a subject
  13. swing — to play on
  14. kid — to tease
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. kid — child
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — to cut
  20. charge — electricity
  21. swing — music
  22. clip — for paper
  23. game — a match
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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