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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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. spell — letters
  4. game — wild animals
  5. spell — magic
  6. bank — of a river
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. cold — not warm
  9. root — the cause
  10. wind — moving air
  11. game — a match
  12. club — a group
  13. root — of a plant
  14. club — for dancing
  15. root — of a word
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. spell — a short time
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bank — for money
  21. bank — for money
  22. fork — in a road
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. fork — to eat with

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