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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. race — a contest
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. snap — to click
  8. race — humankind
  9. club — a group
  10. stock — shares
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. stock — goods
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. race — the arms race
  15. bat — the animal
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. clip — for paper
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. pitch — completely
  21. club — for dancing
  22. clip — a video
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. clip — to cut

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