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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. craft — a skill
  3. swing — to play on
  4. court — for sport
  5. craft — boats
  6. cold — not warm
  7. swing — in golf
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. swing — music
  11. file — a document
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. clip — a video
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. clip — for paper
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. court — of a king
  19. file — a tool
  20. clip — to cut
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. file — a line of people
  24. court — of law

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