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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. club — for dancing
  3. track — a song
  4. wake — a trail
  5. clip — for paper
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. dip — to sink
  8. clip — a video
  9. wound — an injury
  10. clip — to cut
  11. track — a path
  12. cap — a hat
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. track — to keep track
  21. club — a group
  22. cap — a lid
  23. cap — of ice
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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