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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 120 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: cold · saw · swing · kid · pitch · clip · coach · chip

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. clip — a video
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. pitch — completely
  5. chip — for betting
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. saw — the tool
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. swing — in golf
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. clip — to cut
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. kid — child
  15. cold — an illness
  16. clip — for paper
  17. saw — the tool
  18. swing — music
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. kid — to tease
  21. cold — not warm
  22. chip — to eat
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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