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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. club — for golf
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. net — in sport
  5. march — the month
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. net — for catching
  8. chair — a leader
  9. snap — to click
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. pop — soda
  12. cold — not warm
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. march — the month
  15. net — after costs
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. pop — to visit
  20. march — music
  21. club — for dancing
  22. cold — an illness
  23. pop — music
  24. club — a group

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