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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. clip — for paper
  3. swing — in golf
  4. cell — a phone
  5. swing — music
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. tube — the underground
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — a video
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. swing — to play on
  14. tube — a container
  15. rush — hurry
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cell — in biology
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. cold — an illness
  20. kick — in football
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. cold — not warm
  24. tube — in a tire

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