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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  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. clip — for paper
  3. staff — a stick
  4. clip — a video
  5. cold — an illness
  6. present — a gift
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. deal — to handle
  10. club — a group
  11. staff — employees
  12. clip — to cut
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — farmland
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. staff — employees
  17. field — for sport
  18. cold — not warm
  19. club — for dancing
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. present — the time now
  23. present — there
  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