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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. club — for golf
  3. bear — the animal
  4. mine — for digging
  5. field — for sport
  6. bear — the animal
  7. shower — to wash
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. pitch — completely
  10. field — farmland
  11. shower — rain
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. club — a group
  17. field — a subject
  18. mine — belonging to me

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