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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: clip · row · sharp · game · scale · chest · swing · temple

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. scale — size or range
  3. swing — music
  4. chest — a box
  5. scale — in music
  6. clip — a video
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. row — to paddle
  13. chest — of your body
  14. chest — of your body
  15. swing — to play on
  16. game — a match
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. swing — in golf
  19. row — a line
  20. game — wild animals
  21. clip — for paper
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. sharp — clever
  24. scale — for weighing

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