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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: swing · land · mug · clip · bear · cap · mine · date

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. land — to come down
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cap — a lid
  5. land — a country
  6. cap — a hat
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. mug — to rob
  9. land — ground
  10. mug — a face
  11. swing — music
  12. mug — a cup
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. date — the fruit
  18. swing — to play on
  19. bear — the animal
  20. bear — the animal
  21. swing — in golf
  22. clip — to cut
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. clip — a video

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