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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. file — a tool
  3. club — for dancing
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. spring — a coil
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. mine — for digging
  9. sharp — clever
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. jam — to spread on bread
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. file — a line of people
  15. spring — of water
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. file — a document
  18. jam — a tight spot
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. spring — the season
  24. club — a group

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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