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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. mug — a cup
  3. cell — a phone
  4. swing — to play on
  5. wind — moving air
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. shower — to wash
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. net — for catching
  10. clip — to cut
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. clip — a video
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cell — in biology
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. mug — to rob
  18. mug — a face
  19. swing — music
  20. net — after costs
  21. swing — in golf
  22. shower — rain
  23. sharp — clever
  24. clip — for paper

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