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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: swing · club · chest · craft · row · cold · file · dip

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. chest — of your body
  3. swing — music
  4. cold — not warm
  5. swing — in golf
  6. file — a document
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. club — for dancing
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. swing — to play on
  13. chest — a box
  14. file — a tool
  15. row — to paddle
  16. craft — a skill
  17. club — for golf
  18. cold — an illness
  19. craft — boats
  20. row — a line
  21. file — a line of people
  22. dip — to sink
  23. chest — of your body
  24. row — a quarrel

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