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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: hide · squash · date · swing · chest · kick · game · clip

  1. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. chest — a box
  8. kick — in football
  9. game — a match
  10. clip — to cut
  11. chest — of your body
  12. squash — to crush
  13. swing — music
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. game — wild animals
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. squash — the sport
  18. chest — of your body
  19. swing — in golf
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. date — the fruit
  22. swing — to play on
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. hide — to keep secret

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