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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: swing · nail · jam · fall · wake · clip · field · kick

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. kick — in football
  4. field — a subject
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. jam — in traffic
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. swing — to play on
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. swing — music
  11. field — farmland
  12. fall — to drop
  13. field — for sport
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — to cut
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. clip — for paper
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. swing — in golf
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. fall — the season
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. wake — a trail

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