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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: cold · club · tube · fall · swing · mine · arm · perch

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. fall — to drop
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. tube — the underground
  5. cold — not warm
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. club — for golf
  9. fall — to drop
  10. club — a group
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. swing — to play on
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. tube — a container
  16. club — for dancing
  17. swing — music
  18. fall — the season
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. swing — in golf
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. cold — an illness
  24. perch — the fish

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