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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. mine — for digging
  4. wind — moving air
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. field — farmland
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. club — for golf
  11. club — a group
  12. field — for sport
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. field — a subject
  16. game — a match
  17. wind — moving air
  18. game — wild animals

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