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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 120 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 · clip · staff · swing · stick · net · wave · arm

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. swing — to play on
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. staff — employees
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — for paper
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. staff — a stick
  9. net — for catching
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. swing — in golf
  12. swing — music
  13. cold — an illness
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. cold — not warm
  17. net — in sport
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. clip — a video
  23. net — after costs
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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