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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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. charge — electricity
  3. charge — in control
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. club — for dancing
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. row — to paddle
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. club — for golf
  10. game — a match
  11. ground — crushed
  12. charge — a price
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. wake — a trail
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. ground — the earth
  19. row — a line
  20. cold — an illness
  21. ground — a position
  22. plane — a tool
  23. cold — not warm
  24. game — wild animals

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