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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. club — for golf
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. pop — music
  7. pop — soda
  8. field — a subject
  9. pop — to visit
  10. club — a group
  11. cap — a lid
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cap — of ice
  14. field — for sport
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — rain
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. shower — to wash
  19. chest — of your body
  20. sharp — clever
  21. chest — a box
  22. club — for dancing
  23. field — farmland
  24. fork — in a road

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