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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: hide · cold · row · swing · stick · pass · club · kid

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. swing — music
  5. kid — to tease
  6. cold — an illness
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. club — a group
  9. kid — child
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. row — a line
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. club — for dancing
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. swing — to play on
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. pass — a permit
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. cold — not warm
  21. swing — in golf
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. row — to paddle
  24. club — for golf

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