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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. lean — thin
  3. ball — a dance
  4. last — final
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. club — for golf
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. club — a group
  10. foot — a measure
  11. club — for dancing
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. lean — to bend
  15. last — to go on
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. last — finally
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. cold — the Cold War

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