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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. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. club — for dancing
  5. board — a committee
  6. track — a song
  7. ground — crushed
  8. shower — rain
  9. kid — child
  10. cold — not warm
  11. board — to get on
  12. track — to keep track
  13. ground — the earth
  14. shower — to wash
  15. track — a path
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tube — a container
  18. kid — to tease
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. club — for golf
  21. cold — an illness
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. ground — a position
  24. tube — the underground

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