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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: squash · kid · clip · fall · chest · swing · rush · cold

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. chest — a box
  3. fall — the season
  4. chest — of your body
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. fall — to drop
  8. kid — child
  9. clip — a video
  10. swing — in golf
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. swing — to play on
  13. kid — to tease
  14. clip — for paper
  15. swing — music
  16. squash — to crush
  17. chest — of your body
  18. cold — an illness
  19. fall — to drop
  20. rush — hurry
  21. cold — not warm
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. clip — to cut
  24. squash — the sport

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