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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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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: swing · date · plane · pitcher · wound · march · clip · row

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. swing — in golf
  4. swing — music
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. swing — to play on
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. plane — a tool
  11. row — a line
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. row — to paddle
  16. clip — a video
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. march — the month
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. clip — to cut
  21. march — music
  22. wound — an injury
  23. march — the month
  24. date — the fruit

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