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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: swing · club · clip · cold · racket · chip · content · arm

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. clip — for paper
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. chip — for betting
  5. swing — to play on
  6. swing — music
  7. club — for golf
  8. clip — a video
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. content — the amount
  13. chip — to eat
  14. club — for dancing
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. clip — to cut
  20. swing — in golf
  21. content — happy
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. cold — an illness
  24. club — a group

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