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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. swing — to play on
  3. cold — not warm
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. cue — for pool
  6. scale — in music
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. fine — all right
  9. cue — a hint
  10. clip — a video
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. cold — an illness
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. staff — employees
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. swing — in golf
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. scale — size or range
  20. staff — a stick
  21. fork — in a road
  22. swing — music
  23. fine — high quality
  24. staff — employees

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