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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: cold · clip · board · swing · spell · tear · lash · current

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. spell — letters
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. swing — in golf
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. tear — from crying
  8. current — electric
  9. clip — a video
  10. swing — music
  11. current — of water
  12. tear — from crying
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. board — to get on
  15. spell — magic
  16. clip — for paper
  17. spell — a short time
  18. tear — to rip
  19. board — a committee
  20. current — happening now
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. clip — to cut
  24. lash — an eyelash

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