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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 116 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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. club — for golf
  3. cold — an illness
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — from a university
  6. key — in music
  7. key — for a lock
  8. pop — soda
  9. key — the most important part
  10. degree — temperature
  11. club — for dancing
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pop — music
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. cold — not warm
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. club — a group
  18. pop — to visit

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