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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: chest · object · current · bat · cold · clip · charge · swing

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. charge — electricity
  3. cold — an illness
  4. swing — music
  5. object — to protest
  6. clip — a video
  7. current — electric
  8. chest — of your body
  9. charge — a price
  10. charge — in control
  11. object — a thing
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. current — of water
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. object — an aim
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bat — the animal
  18. chest — a box
  19. swing — to play on
  20. swing — in golf
  21. clip — to cut
  22. current — happening now
  23. cold — not warm
  24. chest — of your body

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