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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 belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. club — for dancing
  4. hand — help
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. hand — in cards
  8. clip — for paper
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. club — for golf
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. foot — a measure
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. wind — moving air
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. mine — for digging
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — to cut
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. wind — moving air

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