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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 120 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. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. key — the most important part
  3. ball — a dance
  4. prune — to trim
  5. key — in music
  6. prune — to trim
  7. wound — an injury
  8. shower — rain
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. ball — a great time
  12. club — for dancing
  13. club — a group
  14. key — for a lock
  15. wound — an injury
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. club — for golf
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. bat — the animal
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. saw — the tool
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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