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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: kid · present · bat · date · straw · clip · swing · bay

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. date — the fruit
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. clip — for paper
  7. present — the time now
  8. kid — child
  9. swing — to play on
  10. clip — a video
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. bay — a part of the sea
  14. kid — to tease
  15. present — a gift
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. clip — to cut
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. swing — in golf
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. bat — the animal
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. present — there
  24. swing — music

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