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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. land — to come down
  3. ball — a dance
  4. saw — the tool
  5. dip — to sink
  6. saw — the tool
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. chest — of your body
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. club — for dancing
  12. land — a country
  13. club — for golf
  14. chest — of your body
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. chest — a box
  18. club — a group
  19. land — ground
  20. bat — the animal
  21. ball — a great time
  22. fork — in a road
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. bat — for baseball

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