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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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. club — for dancing
  3. land — to come down
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. cold — an illness
  6. club — a group
  7. craft — a skill
  8. kid — to tease
  9. prune — to trim
  10. land — a country
  11. club — for golf
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. land — ground
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. game — a match
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. prune — to trim
  20. cold — not warm
  21. craft — boats
  22. roll — a cake
  23. game — wild animals
  24. kid — child

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