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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. club — for golf
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mine — for digging
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. band — a music group
  8. race — humankind
  9. row — to paddle
  10. club — a group
  11. race — a contest
  12. wind — moving air
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. last — final
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. row — a line
  17. last — finally
  18. band — a ring
  19. snap — to click
  20. race — the arms race
  21. last — to go on
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. wind — moving air
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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