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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 belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. degree — from a university
  3. track — a path
  4. degree — temperature
  5. track — a song
  6. toast — bread
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cold — not warm
  9. wound — an injury
  10. club — for dancing
  11. degree — an amount
  12. club — for golf
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. cold — an illness
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. date — the fruit
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. track — to keep track

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