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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  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. last — to go on
  2. wound — an injury
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. land — ground
  5. club — for golf
  6. club — for dancing
  7. bass — the fish
  8. land — to come down
  9. last — finally
  10. bat — the animal
  11. spring — a coil
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. bass — low music
  15. spring — of water
  16. last — final
  17. spring — the season
  18. land — a country
  19. squash — to crush
  20. squash — the sport
  21. club — a group
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. bass — the instrument
  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