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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. field — a subject
  4. chip — to eat
  5. chip — for betting
  6. swing — music
  7. swing — in golf
  8. clip — to cut
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — a box
  12. rash — hasty
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. clip — for paper
  15. tube — a container
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. field — farmland
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. field — for sport
  22. tube — the underground
  23. clip — a video
  24. rash — a series

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