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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. capital — money
  3. court — for sport
  4. key — for a lock
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. dip — to sink
  7. club — for dancing
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. cold — not warm
  11. court — of law
  12. capital — a city
  13. club — for golf
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cold — an illness
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. club — a group
  19. key — in music
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. court — of a king

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