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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: shower · spell · hand · wound · saw · swing · arm · clip

  1. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  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. arm — a part of something
  2. saw — the tool
  3. spell — magic
  4. hand — help
  5. clip — a video
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. spell — a short time
  8. swing — in golf
  9. swing — to play on
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spell — letters
  12. wound — an injury
  13. clip — to cut
  14. saw — the tool
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. shower — to wash
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. swing — music
  23. shower — rain
  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