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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  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 dancing
  2. wound — an injury
  3. prune — to trim
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. net — after costs
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. content — the amount
  8. wound — an injury
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. content — happy
  11. net — in sport
  12. net — for catching
  13. club — for golf
  14. shower — rain
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a line of people
  17. prune — to trim
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. club — a group
  20. shower — to wash
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. file — a document
  23. prune — the fruit
  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