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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. wind — moving air
  3. kid — child
  4. drill — the tool
  5. drill — army training
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. drill — a practice
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — to cut
  10. club — a group
  11. wind — moving air
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. snap — to click
  15. prune — to trim
  16. kid — to tease
  17. prune — to trim
  18. clip — for paper
  19. club — for dancing
  20. spring — the season
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. spring — of water
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. spring — a coil

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