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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 116 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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. club — for golf
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. cold — an illness
  7. club — for dancing
  8. key — the most important part
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. swing — to play on
  11. key — for a lock
  12. club — a group
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. swing — in golf
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. content — happy
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. chair — a leader
  20. key — in music
  21. swing — music
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. content — the amount

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