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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. The tickets are free of ________________.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. club — a group
  3. shower — to wash
  4. clip — to cut
  5. club — for dancing
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. charge — electricity
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. last — finally
  10. shower — rain
  11. last — final
  12. clip — for paper
  13. last — to go on
  14. net — in sport
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. net — after costs
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. chair — a leader
  20. charge — a price
  21. charge — in control
  22. clip — a video
  23. lie — to recline
  24. net — for catching

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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