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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 120 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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. club — for dancing
  3. deal — to handle
  4. hand — help
  5. squash — to crush
  6. spring — of water
  7. race — the arms race
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. spring — the season
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. spring — a coil
  12. club — a group
  13. squash — the sport
  14. race — a contest
  15. cold — an illness
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. race — humankind
  19. club — for golf
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. hand — in cards
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. cold — not warm

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