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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. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. wound — an injury
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. spring — a coil
  5. swing — music
  6. swing — in golf
  7. march — the month
  8. scale — size or range
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. march — music
  11. spring — of water
  12. pop — soda
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cue — for pool
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. swing — to play on
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cue — a signal
  19. pop — music
  20. scale — in music
  21. march — the month
  22. spring — the season
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. pop — to visit

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