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

Word bank: wake · clip · wind · club · content · swing · chest · cell

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. content — the amount
  3. swing — music
  4. club — a group
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — a video
  7. club — for dancing
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. club — for golf
  10. swing — in golf
  11. content — happy
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. clip — to cut
  14. swing — to play on
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. wind — moving air
  21. cell — in biology
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. chest — of your body
  24. wake — a trail

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