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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · spring · cold · arm · bark · snap · squash · swing

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. swing — in golf
  3. bark — to shout
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. swing — music
  9. squash — to crush
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. bat — the animal
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. squash — the sport
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. swing — to play on
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. spring — of water
  21. cold — not warm
  22. spring — the season
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. snap — to click

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