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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: bat · pound · roll · clip · cap · swing · ground · arm

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. swing — to play on
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. ground — the earth
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pound — a weight
  11. cap — of ice
  12. cap — a lid
  13. cap — a hat
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. clip — a video
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — the animal
  20. swing — music
  21. ground — a position
  22. ground — crushed
  23. swing — in golf
  24. roll — a list

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