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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. clip — for paper
  3. staff — employees
  4. clip — a video
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. staff — a stick
  7. pit — a hole
  8. hand — in cards
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. sharp — clever
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. clip — to cut
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. pit — in a race
  16. club — for dancing
  17. chest — of your body
  18. hand — help
  19. chest — a box
  20. tube — a container
  21. tube — the underground
  22. staff — employees
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. club — a group

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