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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. chest — of your body
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. fine — high quality
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. date — the fruit
  7. stock — goods
  8. chest — of your body
  9. branch — a division
  10. chest — a box
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. fine — all right
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. cold — not warm
  17. club — for dancing
  18. stock — shares
  19. club — a group
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. coach — a trainer

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