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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. content — the amount
  3. club — for golf
  4. shower — rain
  5. file — a tool
  6. content — happy
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. file — a document
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. club — for dancing
  11. net — for catching
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. rash — a series
  14. net — after costs
  15. chair — a leader
  16. rash — hasty
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. shower — to wash
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. snap — to click
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. file — a line of people
  24. net — in sport

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