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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: clip · cold · fork · foot · swing · squash · racket · pop

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. squash — the sport
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. pop — soda
  6. foot — a measure
  7. pop — music
  8. squash — to crush
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. clip — to cut
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. swing — music
  15. swing — in golf
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. clip — a video
  18. swing — to play on
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — not warm
  21. fork — in a road
  22. pop — to visit
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. squash — the vegetable

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