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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The tickets are free of ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. club — for golf
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. file — a tool
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. cue — a hint
  7. wound — an injury
  8. field — a subject
  9. club — a group
  10. charge — a price
  11. file — a line of people
  12. field — for sport
  13. cue — for pool
  14. cell — in biology
  15. charge — electricity
  16. charge — in control
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. cell — a phone
  19. field — farmland
  20. row — a line
  21. club — for dancing
  22. wound — an injury
  23. file — a document
  24. row — to paddle

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