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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 120 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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  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. wind — moving air
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. club — for golf
  4. chest — of your body
  5. fall — to drop
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. club — a group
  8. prune — to trim
  9. fall — to drop
  10. prune — to trim
  11. club — for dancing
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. game — a match
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. wind — moving air
  17. fall — the season
  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