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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 · wake · clip · march · key · bark · snap · swing

  1. This piece is in a major ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. key — in music
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. wake — a trail
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. clip — a video
  6. march — the month
  7. march — the month
  8. bat — the animal
  9. march — music
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. swing — to play on
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bark — to shout
  15. snap — to click
  16. key — the most important part
  17. swing — music
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. clip — to cut
  21. swing — in golf
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. key — for a lock
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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